System and method for classifying recorded content for deletion

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods are disclosed herein for classifying, based on most recent information associated with recorded content, the recorded content to an appropriate deletion classifier. A media guidance application may receive information about an event that is associated with a recorded media asset. The media guidance application may determine, based on the event and a current deletion classifier associated with the recorded media asset, whether the current deletion classifier associated with the recorded media asset needs to be updated to a new deletion classifier. The media guidance application may make this determination by accessing a deletion classification database containing rules for classifying recorded media assets into a variety of deletion classifiers. Upon determining that the current deletion classifier associated with the recorded media asset needs to be updated to a new deletion classifier, the media guidance application may update the current deletion classifier to the new deletion classifier.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a national stage application under 35 U.S.C. § 371of International Application PCT/US2016/068670, filed Dec. 27, 2016. Thedisclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety.

BACKGROUND

Given the plethora of content available for consumption, it is notalways possible for users to consume a piece of content right when it ismade available. In such cases, a user may record content for laterconsumption. However, recording devices have finite storage capacity andrecorded content have to be periodically deleted from recording devicesto ensure that there is storage capacity available for recording newcontent. Because a recording device may contain a large amount ofrecorded content, it is very cumbersome for a user to manually determinewhich recorded content should be deleted. Current systems may recommendrecorded content for deletion based on a variety of factors (e.g., genreof a recording, number of playbacks, duration for which recorded contentwas stored on the recording device). However, current systems do not usea variety of independent rules for moving recorded contentbi-directionally between multiple deletion recommendation categories.Consequently, current systems are limited to providing coarsegranularity deletion recommendations that are not updated based on newinformation.

SUMMARY

Therefore, systems and methods are disclosed herein for classifying,based on most recent information associated with recorded content, therecorded content to an appropriate deletion classifier. A media guidanceapplication may receive information about an event that is associatedwith a recorded media asset. The media guidance application maydetermine, based on the event and a current deletion classifierassociated with the recorded media asset, whether the current deletionclassifier associated with the recorded media asset needs to be updatedto a new deletion classifier. The media guidance application may makethis determination by accessing a deletion classification databasecontaining rules for classifying recorded media assets into a variety ofdeletion classifiers. Upon determining that the current deletionclassifier associated with the recorded media asset needs to be updatedto a new deletion classifier, the media guidance application may updatethe current deletion classifier associated with the recorded media assetto the new deletion classifier.

In some aspects, a media guidance application may be configured toupdate, in response to detecting a pre-defined trigger event, a deletionclassifier associated with a recorded media asset from a currentdeletion classifier to a new deletion classifier. As referred to herein,the term “deletion classifier” refers to a descriptor that indicates aparticular deletion-related characteristic. Deletion classifierincludes, but is not limited to, “Do Not Delete,” “O.K. to Delete,”“Recommended to Delete,” “Automatically Delete,” “Store a Back-up Copyon a Different Device and Delete,” and other similar classifiers. “DoNot Delete” deletion classifier may be used to indicate, to a user andthe media guidance application, that a recorded media asset should notbe deleted. As an illustrative example, “Do Not Delete” deletionclassifier may be used for a recently recorded media asset that the userhas not yet consumed. There may be an instruction associated with the“Do Not Delete” deletion classifier that instructs the media guidanceapplication to refrain from deleting a recorded media assetcorresponding to the “Do Not Delete” deletion classifier. As anillustrative example, the instruction may be a conditional programmingstatement for setting a “Delete” flag associated with a recorded mediaasset to “false” upon determining that the deletion classifierassociated with the recorded media asset is “Do Not Delete.”

“O.K. to Delete” deletion classifier may be used to indicate thatneither deleting a recorded media asset nor not deleting a recordedmedia asset will have a detrimental impact on user experience. “O.K. toDelete” deletion classifier may be used for a recorded media asset thatdoes not occupy too much space (i.e., not deleting the recorded mediaasset will not significantly impact available storage capacity) and isalso available for free via a media consumption platform associated withthe user (i.e., deleting the recorded media asset will not impact theuser's ability to consume a version of the media asset). As anillustrative example, the “O.K. to Delete” deletion classifier may beassociated with an instruction that includes an if-else conditionalstatement. The media guidance application may, based on the instructionassociated with the “O.K. to Delete” deletion classifier, refrain fromdeleting a recorded media asset corresponding to the “O.K. to Delete”deletion classifier upon detecting a set of criteria is true and, deletethe recorded media asset corresponding to the “O.K. to Delete” deletionclassifier upon detecting the set of criteria is false. For example, themedia guidance application may set a “Delete” flag associated with arecorded media asset corresponding to the “O.K. to Delete” deletionclassifier to “false” upon detecting available storage is not below acertain available storage threshold value. The media guidanceapplication may set a “Delete” flag associated with a recorded mediaasset corresponding to the “O.K. to Delete” deletion classifier to“true” upon detecting available storage is below the certain availablestorage threshold value.

“Recommended to Delete” deletion classifier may be used to indicate to auser that it would be beneficial to delete a recorded media asset.“Recommended to Delete” deletion classifier may be used for a recordedmedia asset that has been stored on a storage for a time period that islonger than threshold time period (e.g., six months). As an illustrativeexample, the “Recommended to Delete” deletion classifier may beassociated with an instruction for setting a “Delete” flag associatedwith a recorded media asset corresponding to the “Recommended to Delete”deletion classifier to “true” upon detecting a certain set of criteriais true. The criteria for setting “Delete” flag to “true” may be morestringent for the “Recommended to Delete” deletion classifier than the“O.K. to Delete” deletion classifier. As an illustrative example,instruction associated with “Recommended to Delete” deletion classifiermay be a conditional statement that if available storage is less thanfifty gigabytes, then “Delete” flag should be set to “true.” Instructionassociated with “O.K. to Delete” deletion classifier may be aconditional statement that if available storage is less than fivegigabytes, then “Delete” flag should be set to “true.”

“Automatically Delete” deletion classifier may be associated with aninstruction that indicates that a recorded media asset should be deletedwithout requiring further input from a user. As an illustrative example,the instruction may be a conditional statement that if deletionclassifier for a recorded media asset is “Automatically Delete,” then a“Delete” flag associated with the recorded media asset should be set to“true.” For example, when available storage capacity falls below athreshold value (e.g., ten percent of total storage capacity available),the media guidance application may update deletion classifier associatedwith a recorded media asset that the user has already consumed to“Automatically Delete.” The media guidance application may then set“Delete” flag associated with the recorded media asset to “true” andsubsequently, delete the recorded media asset. “Store a Back-up Copy ona Different Device and Delete” deletion classifier may be associatedwith an instruction for storing a copy of a recorded media asset onanother storage device prior to deleting the recorded media asset.“Store a Back-up Copy on a Different Device and Delete” deletionclassifier may be used for a recently recorded media asset that the userhas not consumed and that is consuming a lot of memory on the currentstorage device. For example, the media guidance application may store aback-up copy of a recorded media asset on a remote file hosting serviceassociated with the user and then delete the recorded media asset fromthe DVR to free up more space for upcoming scheduled recordings. Itshould be noted that any systems and methods described here may beperformed outside of a media guidance application.

The media guidance application may receive a first data packetcontaining information about a first event corresponding to a recordedmedia asset. As an illustrative example, a recorded media asset may be“Finding Nemo,” a computer-animated comedy-drama adventure film. Themedia guidance application may receive a data packet containinginformation that a user has watched a portion but not an entirety of“Finding Nemo” (e.g., ten minutes of playback time). The media guidanceapplication may access a recorded media asset properties data structure(e.g., recording properties data structure) to retrieve a first deletionclassifier associated with the recorded media asset. For example, themedia guidance application may retrieve an “O.K. to Delete” deletionclassifier associated with “Finding Nemo.”

The media guidance application may store, in a deletion classificationdatabase, a plurality of rule entries for classifying recorded mediaassets into a plurality of deletion classifiers, where each rule entryof the plurality of rule entries includes a trigger event field, aninitial deletion classifier field and a final deletion classifier field,and each rule entry includes an instruction, for a given recorded mediaasset associated with a value corresponding to the initial deletionclassifier field, for updating a deletion classifier associated with thegiven recorded media asset from the value corresponding to the initialdeletion classifier field to a value corresponding to the final deletionclassifier field in response to detecting an event corresponding to avalue of the trigger event field.

As an illustrative example, the media guidance application may store tworules in a deletion classification database, rule A and rule B. For ruleA, the values of the trigger event field, the initial deletionclassifier field and the final deletion classifier field may be “a userhas consumed a portion of recorded media asset that is not an entiretyof the recorded media asset,” “O.K. to Delete” and “Do Not Delete”respectively. Rule A may include an instruction for updating a deletionclassifier associated with a given recorded media asset from “O.K. toDelete” to “Do Not Delete,” in response to detecting that a user hasconsumed a portion, but not an entirety, of the given recorded mediaasset. For rule B, the values of the trigger event field, the initialdeletion classifier field and the final deletion classifier field may be“a user has consumed a portion of recorded media asset that is not anentirety of the recorded media asset,” “Recommended to Delete” and “DoNot Delete” respectively. Rule B may include an instruction for updatinga deletion classifier associated with a given recorded media asset from“Recommended to Delete” to “Do Not Delete,” in response to detectingthat a user has consumed a portion, but not an entirety, of the givenrecorded media asset.

The media guidance application may query the deletion classificationdatabase for a first rule entry, where a value corresponding to atrigger event field associated with the first rule entry matches thefirst event and a value corresponding to a initial deletion classifierfield associated with the first rule entry matches the first deletionclassifier. For example, the media guidance application may query (e.g.,by using database management languages such as SQL, JAPQL, CODASYL oranother suitable language) the deletion classification database for arule entry that has a trigger event field value of “a user has consumeda portion of recorded media asset that is not an entirety of therecorded media asset” and initial deletion classifier field value of“O.K. to Delete.” The media guidance application may retrieve, based onthe querying, the first rule entry that is associated with both thefirst event and the first deletion classifier. For example, the mediaguidance application may retrieve rule A that is associated with bothtrigger event field value of “a user has consumed a portion of recordedmedia asset that is not an entirety of the recorded media asset” andinitial deletion classifier field value of “O.K. to Delete.”

The media guidance application may retrieve a value corresponding to afinal deletion classifier field associated with the first rule entry,where the value corresponding to the final deletion classifier fieldassociated with the first rule entry is a second deletion classifier.For example, the media guidance application may retrieve “Do Not Delete”corresponding to the final deletion classifier field associated withrule A. The media guidance application may update the recorded mediaasset properties data structure by substituting the first deletionclassifier associated with the recorded media asset with the seconddeletion classifier. For example, the media guidance application mayupdate the recording properties data structure by substituting “O.K. toDelete” deletion classifier associated with “Finding Nemo” with “Do NotDelete” deletion classifier.

The media guidance application may use deletion classifiers to grouprecorded media asset identifiers in a display so that a user can easilyidentify a deletion classifiers associated with a given recorded mediaassets. For example, the media guidance application generate for displayidentifiers corresponding to recorded media assets associated with “DoNot Delete” delete classifier with one type of indicator (e.g., a reddot alongside the indicator) and identifiers corresponding to recordedmedia assets associated with “O.K. to Delete” delete classifier withanother type of indicator (e.g., a yellow dot alongside the indicator).The media guidance application may, when generating for display anindicator associated with a given recorded media asset, retrievedeletion classifier associated with the given recorded media asset inorder to determine type of indicator. In some embodiments, the mediaguidance application may receive a user request to view only recordedmedia assets associated with a specific deletion classifier (e.g.,“Recommended to Delete”). The media guidance application may query therecordings properties data structure for recorded media assets that areassociated with the specific deletion classifier and generate fordisplay identifiers for recorded media assets returned by the query. Insome embodiments, the media guidance application may automaticallydelete recorded media assets that are associated with a specificdeletion classifier (e.g., “Automatically Delete”). The media guidanceapplication may query the recordings properties for recorded mediaassets that are associated with the specific deletion classifier andautomatically delete recorded media assets returned by the query.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may, upon detectinga pre-defined trigger event, change current deletion classifierassociated with a recorded media asset back to a deletion classifierthat was previously associated with the recorded media asset.Specifically, the media guidance application may receive a second datapacket containing information about a second event corresponding to therecorded media asset. For example, the media guidance application mayreceive a data packet containing information that “Finding Nemo” isfreely available through a media consumption platform associated withthe user (e.g., “Finding Nemo” is available for free on the user'sNetflix account). The media guidance application may access the recordedmedia asset properties data structure to retrieve the second deletionclassifier associated with the recorded media asset. For example, themedia guidance application may retrieve a “Do Not Delete” deletionclassifier associated with “Finding Nemo” from the recording propertiesdata structure.

The media guidance application may retrieve, from the deletionclassification database, a second rule entry that is associated withboth the second event and the second deletion classifier. For example,the media guidance application may retrieve, from the deletionclassification, rule C that has a trigger event field value of “aversion of recorded media asset is freely available through a mediaconsumption platform associated with the user,” and initial deletionclassifier field value of “Do Not Delete.” Rule C may also include afinal deletion classifier field value of “O.K. to Delete” and aninstruction for updating a deletion classifier associated with a givenrecorded media asset from “Do Not Delete” to “O.K. to Delete,” inresponse to detecting that a version of recorded media asset is freelyavailable through a media consumption platform associated with the user.The media guidance application may update the recorded media assetproperties data structure by substituting the second deletion classifierassociated with the recorded media asset with a value corresponding to afinal deletion classifier field associated with the second rule entry,where the value corresponding to the final deletion classifier fieldassociated with the second rule entry is the first deletion classifier.For example, the media guidance application may update the recordingproperties data structure by substituting “Do Not Delete” deletionclassifier associated with “Finding Nemo” with “O.K. to Delete” deletionclassifier.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may be configured toupdate a deletion classifier associated with a recorded media asset froma current deletion classifier to a new deletion classifier based on atleast two factors: detecting a pre-defined trigger event and determiningsome pre-defined criterion has been fulfilled. In some embodiments, arule entry of the plurality of rule entries may include an additionalinformation field. The rule entry may also include an instruction forupdating the deletion classifier associated with the given recordedmedia asset that includes an instruction for updating the deletionclassifier associated with the given recorded media asset in response todetecting both an event corresponding to a value of trigger event fieldassociated with the rule entry and determining that a criterion definedby a value of the additional information field is fulfilled.

As an illustrative example, the deletion classification database mayinclude rule D which has a trigger event field value of “user hasconsumed a portion of recorded media asset that is not an entirety ofthe recorded media asset,” additional information field value of “useris not interested in the recorded media asset,” an initial deletionclassifier field value of “O.K. to Delete” and a final deletionclassifier field value of “Recommended to Delete.” Rule D may include aninstruction for updating deletion classifier associated with a givenrecorded media asset from “O.K. to Delete” to “Recommended to Delete,”in response to both detecting that a user has consumed a portion ofrecorded media asset that is not an entirety of the recorded media assetand determining that the user is not interested in the recorded mediaasset. For the case where current deletion classifier associated with“Finding Nemo” is “O.K. to Delete,” the media guidance application may,upon detecting that a user has watched ten minutes of “Finding Nemo,”access a data structure (e.g., a user profile data structure) todetermine whether the user is interested in “Finding Nemo.” As anillustrative example, in response to determining that the user isinterested in “Finding Nemo” (e.g., retrieving a “true” value for an“interested in media asset” field associated with “Finding Nemo”), themedia guidance application may determine that the criterion defined byvalue of the additional information field is not fulfilled. Accordingly,the media guidance application may refrain from updating the deletionclassifier associated with “Finding Nemo.” As another illustrativeexample, in response to determining that the user is not interested in“Finding Nemo” (e.g., retrieving a “false” value for an “interested inmedia asset” field associated with “Finding Nemo”), the media guidanceapplication may determine that the criterion defined by value of theadditional information field is fulfilled. Accordingly, the mediaguidance application may update the deletion classifier associated with“Finding Nemo” from “O.K. to Delete” to “Recommended to Delete.”

The media guidance application may store, in the deletion classificationdatabase, rule entries that correspond to different combinations oftrigger event field values and additional information field values. Avalue that is associated with the trigger event field for one rule maybe associated with the additional information field for another rule andvice versa. Value of the trigger event field and/or value of theadditional information field may include, but is not limited to: aversion of the given recorded media asset becoming available for freethrough a media consumption platform (e.g., “Finding Nemo” becomingavailable for free on Netflix); a version of the given recorded mediaasset being scheduled for broadcast within some pre-defined time period(e.g., “Finding Nemo” being scheduled for broadcast on Televisionchannel ABC Family within one week time window from a current time); auser consuming a portion of the given recorded media asset (e.g., userwatched ten minutes of “Finding Nemo”); the user consuming a portion ofa version of the given recorded media asset that is available from adifferent source (e.g., user watched ten minutes of “Finding Nemo” onNetflix); media asset associated with the given recorded media assetbeing scheduled to be available within some pre-defined time period(e.g., “Finding Dory,” a sequel film to “Finding Nemo,” being scheduledfor broadcast on Television channel ABC Family within one week timewindow from a current time); available memory of a storage device thatthe given recorded media asset is stored on falling below a pre-definedthreshold available memory value (e.g., available storage capacity ofDVR that “Finding Nemo” is stored on falling below ten percent of totalstorage capacity of the DVR); duration of time for which the givenrecorded media asset was stored on the storage device exceeding apre-defined threshold storage time duration value (e.g., “Finding Nemo”being stored for more than three months); a level of interest of theuser in the given recorded media asset (e.g., user having a interestscore of eight in “Finding Nemo,” where interest score is defined on ascale of one to ten with a higher score corresponding to a greater levelof interest); a number of users who have consumed the given recordedmedia asset (e.g., three registered users have consumed “Finding Nemo”);an identity of the user who has consumed the given recorded media asset(e.g., Toddler Tom has consumed “Finding Nemo”). In some embodiments, arule entry may include multiple additional information fields. In suchinstances, the media guidance application may update a deletionclassifier associated with a given recorded given media asset upondetermining that all criteria defined by values corresponding to themultiple additional information fields have been fulfilled.

In some embodiments, rule entries in the deletion classificationdatabase may have priority values associated with them where a priorityvalue associated with a given rule indicates an importance of the givenrule on some pre-defined scale. In some embodiments, each rule entry ofthe plurality of rule entries may further include a priority field,where a value corresponding to a priority field associated with a givenrule entry defines a priority level associated with the given ruleentry. As an illustrative example, priority level may be defined on ascale of one to ten, with priority level of ten being most important.For example, rule A, with trigger event field value of “a user hasconsumed a portion of recorded media asset that is not an entirety ofthe recorded media asset,” initial deletion classifier field value of“O.K. to Delete” and final deletion classifier field value of “Do NotDelete,” may have priority field value of five. For example, rule D,with trigger event field value of “user has consumed a portion ofrecorded media asset that is not an entirety of the recorded mediaasset,” additional information field value of “user is not interested inthe recorded media asset,” initial deletion classifier field value of“O.K. to Delete” and final deletion classifier field value of“Recommended to Delete,” may have priority field value of ten. Thus, inthis illustrative example, D is a more important than rule A.

In some embodiments, the deletion classification database may includemultiple rule entries that are associated with the same trigger eventand initial deletion classifier (e.g., rule entries that have sametrigger event and initial deletion classifier but different additionalinformation field values). In such cases, the media guidance applicationmay select the most important rule entry among the multiple rule entriesfor updating deletion classifier. In some embodiments, querying thedeletion classification database for the first rule entry may returnmultiple rule entries. For example, the media guidance application mayquery for rule entries that are associated with trigger event fieldvalue of “a user has consumed a portion of recorded media asset that isnot an entirety of the recorded media asset” and initial deletionclassifier field value of “O.K. to Delete.” The query result may includeunique identifiers corresponding to rule A and rule D.

The media guidance application may, when determining the first ruleentry, determine, based on comparing values corresponding to priorityfield associated with each rule entry of the multiple rule entries, arule entry of the multiple rule entries that is associated with thehighest priority level. For example, the media guidance application maycompare priority field value associated with rule A (e.g., five) withpriority field value associated with rule D (e.g., ten). The mediaguidance application may select the rule entry of the multiple ruleentries that is associated with the highest priority level as the firstrule entry. In this example, the media guidance application may selectrule D as the first rule entry.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine that,in order to apply the most important rule entry associated with atrigger event and an initial deletion classifier, criterion associatedwith the most important rule entry has to be fulfilled. The mediaguidance application may, upon determining that the criterion associatedwith the most important rule entry is not fulfilled, select the secondmost important rule entry that is also associated with the trigger eventand the initial deletion classifier. In some embodiments, the rule entryof the multiple rule entries that is associated with the highestpriority level may further include an additional information field. Forexample, rule D may include an additional information field. The mediaguidance application may retrieve a value associated with the additionalinformation field. For example, the media guidance application mayretrieve value of “user is not interested in the recorded media asset”corresponding to additional information field associated with rule D.

The media guidance application may determine, based on the valueassociated with the additional information field, relevant informationrequired for determining whether a criterion defined by the value of theadditional information field is fulfilled. For example, the mediaguidance application may determine, based on “user is not interested inthe recorded media asset,” that information that defines the user'sinterest in “Finding Nemo” is necessary to determine whether the user isinterested in “Finding Nemo.” The media guidance application may accessa data structure containing the relevant information to retrieve therelevant information. For example, the media guidance application mayaccess a user profile data structure, associated with the user, toretrieve a value corresponding to an “interested in media asset” fieldcorresponding to “Finding Nemo.” As an illustrative example, the mediaguidance application may retrieve a “null” value which indicates thatthere is no information that defines the user's interest in “FindingNemo.”

The media guidance application may compare the value associated with theadditional information field with the relevant information to determinewhether the criterion defined by the value of the additional informationfield is fulfilled. For example, the media guidance application maycompare the “null” value with “user is not interested in the recordedmedia asset” using an appropriate logic program script to determinewhether “null” value corresponds to a user not being interested in arecorded media asset. The media guidance application may, in response todetermining that the criterion defined by the value of the additionalinformation field is not fulfilled, select rule entry of the multiplerule entries that is associated with next highest priority level as thefirst rule entry instead. For example, the media guidance applicationmay determine that a “null” value provides no information defining theuser's interest in “Finding Nemo” and accordingly, does not correspondto the user not being interested in “Finding Nemo.” In this case, themedia guidance application may select rule A, which is associated withpriority field value of five, as the first rile entry instead.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may provide a userinformation regarding why a give recorded media asset identifier wasclassified into a specific deletion classifier. In some embodiments, themedia guidance application may generate for simultaneous display anidentifier corresponding to the recorded media asset, deletionclassifier associated with the recorded media asset and a reason forclassifying the recorded media asset into the deletion classifierassociated with the recorded media asset. For example, subsequent toupdating a deletion classifier associated with “Finding Nemo” from “O.K.to Delete” to “Do Not Delete,” in response to detecting that a user haswatched ten minutes of “Finding Nemo,” the media guidance applicationmay generate for simultaneous display an identifier for “Finding Nemo,”“Do Not Delete” classifier and a notification “You watched a portionthat is not an entirety of Finding Nemo.”

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may provide a useran option to change a deletion classifier associated with a recordedmedia asset. Specifically, the media guidance application may generatefor display a plurality of selectable deletion classifier optionscorresponding to the recorded media asset, where each selectabledeletion classifier option of the plurality of selectable deletionclassifier options corresponds to a deletion classifier of the pluralityof deletion classifiers. As a matter of example, “Finding Nemo” may beassociated with “Do Not Delete” deletion classifier. The media guidanceapplication may generate for display, for “Finding Nemo,” selectableoption “Move to ‘O.K. to Delete’” corresponding to “O.K. to Delete”deletion classifier and selectable option “Move to ‘Recommended toDelete’” corresponding to “Recommended to Delete” deletion classifier.The media guidance application may receive a user selection of aselectable deletion classifier option of the plurality of selectabledeletion classifier options. For example, the media guidance applicationmay receive a selection of selectable option “Move to ‘Recommended toDelete’” corresponding to “Finding Nemo.”

The media guidance application may access a data structure that containsinformation about mapping between the plurality of selectable deletionclassifier options and the plurality of deletion classifiers todetermine a deletion classifier corresponding to the selected selectabledeletion classifier option. For example, the media guidance applicationmay access a look-up table that defines relationship between selectabledeletion classifier options and the plurality of deletion classifiers todetermine which deletion classifier selectable option “Move to‘Recommended to Delete’” corresponds to. The media guidance applicationmay retrieve the deletion classifier corresponding to the selectedselectable deletion classifier option. For example, the media guidanceapplication may retrieve “Recommended to Delete” deletion classifierthat corresponds to the selected option “Move to ‘Recommended toDelde’.” The media guidance application may update the recorded mediaasset properties data structure by substituting the second deletionclassifier associated with the deletion classifier corresponding to theselected selectable deletion classifier option. For example, the mediaguidance application may update the recording properties data structureby substituting “Do Not Delete” deletion classifier associated with“Finding Nemo” with “Recommended to Delete.”

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may automaticallydelete recorded media assets associated with a specific deletionclassifier after some predefined period of time has elapsed.Specifically, the media guidance application may select recorded mediaassets associated with a third deletion classifier of the plurality ofdeletion classifiers for automatic deletion after a pre-defined periodof time has elapsed. For example, the media guidance application mayselect all recorded media assets (e.g., Beauty and the Beast, TheAvengers and National Treasure) associated with the “Recommended toDelete” deletion classifier for automatic deletion after seventy twohours from a current time (e.g., December 4^(th), 12:00 A.M.) haselapsed. The media guidance application may store in memory a “deletiontime” variable that corresponds to a date and time when the recordedmedia assets selected for automatic deletion should be automaticallydeleted. Following from the example above, the media guidanceapplication may store a value that is a sum of seventy two hours and thecurrent time (i.e., December 7^(th), 12:00 A.M.) in the “deletion time”variable.

The media guidance application may generate for display a recommendationto consume the recorded media assets associated with the third deletionclassifier before the pre-defined period of time has elapsed. Forexample, the media guidance application may generate for display anotification such as “the listed media assets will be deleted onDecember 7^(th), 12:00 A.M. Watch the media assets before they aredeleted.” The media guidance application may receive a data packetcontaining information that the pre-defined period of time has elapsed.For example, the media guidance application may receive a data packetcontaining a date and time stamp of a current date and time (e.g.,December 7^(th), 12:00 A.M.). The media guidance application maydetermine, based on comparing the date and time stamp of the currentdate and value of the “deletion time” variable, that seventy-two hoursfrom December 4^(th), 12:00 A.M. has elapsed. The media guidanceapplication may, in response to receiving the data packet containinginformation that the pre-defined period of time has elapsed,automatically delete the recorded media assets associated with the thirddeletion classifier. For example, the media guidance application mayautomatically delete recorded media assets Beauty and the Beast, TheAvengers and National Treasure upon receiving data packet containingcurrent date and time stamp of December 7^(th), 12:00 A.M.

It should be noted that the systems, methods, apparatuses, and/oraspects described above may be applied to, or used in accordance with,other systems, methods, apparatuses, and/or aspects described in thisdisclosure. It should also be noted, the systems and/or methodsdescribed above may be applied to, or used in accordance with, othersystems and/or methods.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects and advantages of the disclosure will beapparent upon consideration of the following detailed description, takenin conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like referencecharacters refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIGS. 1A-1C depict an illustrative recorded media asset properties datastructure that the media guidance application may access and update, andan illustrative deletion classification database that the media guidanceapplication may access when classifying recorded content for deletion,in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 2 depicts an illustrative display that the media guidanceapplication may generate for display for providing information regardingwhy a give recorded media asset identifier was classified into aspecific deletion classifier, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure;

FIG. 3 depicts an illustrative display that the media guidanceapplication may generate for display for informing a user that certainrecorded media assets will be automatically deleted, in accordance withsome embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 4 shows an illustrative embodiment of a display screen that may beused to provide media guidance application listings and other mediaguidance information, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure;

FIG. 5 shows another illustrative embodiment of a display screen thatmay be used to provide media guidance application listings, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an illustrative user equipment (UE) devicein accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an illustrative media system in accordancewith some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of illustrative steps involved in classifying arecorded content for deletion, in accordance with some embodiments ofthe disclosure;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of illustrative steps involved in retrieving afirst rule entry, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;and

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of illustrative steps involved in classifying arecorded media asset into a deletion classifier, in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The described systems and methods classify, based on most recentinformation associated with recorded content, the recorded content to anappropriate deletion classifier. A media guidance application mayreceive information about an event that is associated with a recordedmedia asset. The media guidance application may determine, based on theevent and a current deletion classifier associated with the recordedmedia asset, whether the current deletion classifier associated with therecorded media asset needs to be updated to a new deletion classifier.The media guidance application may make this determination by accessinga deletion classification database containing rules for classifyingrecorded media assets into a variety of deletion classifiers. Upondetermining that the current deletion classifier associated with therecorded media asset needs to be updated to a new deletion classifier,the media guidance application may update the current deletionclassifier associated with the recorded media asset to the new deletionclassifier.

The media guidance application may reside on user television equipment702, user computer equipment 704, and/or wireless user communicationsdevice 706. In some embodiments, some or all portions of the mediaguidance application may be located at media content source 716 and/ormedia guidance data source 718. In some embodiments, portions of themedia guidance application may be located on each of user televisionequipment 702, user computer equipment 704, wireless user communicationsdevice 706, media content source 716 and media guidance data source 718.

In some aspects, a media guidance application may be configured toupdate, in response to detecting a pre-defined trigger event, a deletionclassifier associated with a recorded media asset from a currentdeletion classifier to a new deletion classifier. Deletion classifierincludes, but is not limited to, “Do Not Delete,” “O.K. to Delete,”“Recommended to Delete,” “Automatically Delete,” “Store a Back-up Copyon a Different Device and Delete,” and other similar classifiers. Themedia guidance application may update a deletion classifier associatedwith a recorded media asset based on a rule included in a deletionclassification database. A rule included in the deletion classificationdatabase may include an instruction for updating, in response todetecting a pre-defined trigger event, a deletion classifier associatedwith a recorded media asset from a current deletion classifier to a newdeletion classifier.

FIGS. 1A-1C depict an illustrative recorded media asset properties datastructure that the media guidance application may access and update, andan illustrative deletion classification database that the media guidanceapplication may access when classifying recorded content for deletion,in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. The depicted datastructures are only illustrative embodiments. Information about recordedmedia assets and rules for classifying recorded media assets intodeletion classifiers may be stored and categorized using other suitabledata storage structures (e.g., linked lists, arrays) without departingfrom the scope of this invention.

Data structure 100 may contain information about recorded media assets.As an illustrative example, data structure 100 may include entries 110,112, 114, 116, 118, 120, 122 and 124. Each entry in data structure 100may include several fields that provide descriptive information about arecorded media asset associated with the entry. Exemplary fieldsinclude, but are not limited to, media asset identifier 104, media assettitle 106, and deletion classifier 108. Media asset identifier 104 maybe a unique or specific identifier associated with a recorded mediaasset or a pointer or link to the recorded media asset itself. In someembodiments, in order to populate the different fields of an entryassociated with a recorded media asset, the media guidance applicationmay retrieve relevant information associated with the recorded mediaasset from metadata, located at any of storage 608, media content source716 and media guidance data source 718, associated with the recordedmedia asset.

Database 150 may store a plurality of rules for classifying recordedmedia assets into deletion classifiers. As an illustrative example,database 150 may include rule entries 164, 166, 168, and 170. Each ruleentry in database 150 may include several fields that are used to definethe rule. Exemplary fields include, but are not limited to, triggerevent 152, additional information 154, initial deletion classifier 156,final deletion classifier 158, instruction 160 and priority 162. Triggerevent 152 may define some event associated with a recorded media assetthat initiates a change in deletion classifier associated with therecorded media asset. Additional information 154 may define a criterionthat has to be fulfilled for a rule to apply. Initial deletionclassifier 156 may define a current deletion classifier that must beassociated with a recorded media asset for a rule to apply. Finaldeletion classifier 158 may define a new deletion classifier thatdeletion classifier associated with a recorded media asset will beupdated to upon application of the rule. Instruction 160 may provideinformation about how trigger event 152, additional information 154,initial deletion classifier 156, and final deletion classifier 158 maybe used to update deletion classifier. Priority 162 may define a levelof importance of rule entry on some pre-defined scale.

The media guidance application may receive a first data packetcontaining information about a first event corresponding to a recordedmedia asset. As an illustrative example, a recorded media asset may be“Finding Nemo,” a computer-animated comedy-drama adventure film. Themedia guidance application may receive a data packet containinginformation that a user has watched a portion but not an entirety of“Finding Nemo” (e.g., ten minutes of playback time). The media guidanceapplication may access a recorded media asset properties data structure(e.g., data structure 100 located at any of storage 608, media contentsource 716 and media guidance data source 718) to retrieve a firstdeletion classifier associated with the recorded media asset. As anillustrative example, entry 110 in data structure 100 may be associatedwith “Finding Nemo.” The media guidance application may access entry 110and retrieve a value corresponding to deletion classifier 108 (e.g.,“O.K. to Delete”).

The media guidance application may store, in a deletion classificationdatabase, a plurality of rule entries for classifying recorded mediaassets into a plurality of deletion classifiers, where each rule entryof the plurality of rule entries includes a trigger event field, aninitial deletion classifier field and a final deletion classifier field,and each rule entry includes an instruction, for a given recorded mediaasset associated with a value corresponding to the initial deletionclassifier field, for updating a deletion classifier associated with thegiven recorded media asset from the value corresponding to the initialdeletion classifier field to a value corresponding to the final deletionclassifier field in response to detecting an event corresponding to avalue of the trigger event field.

As an illustrative example, the media guidance application may storerule entries 164, 166, 168 and 170 in database 150. For rule entry 164,the values of the trigger event 152, initial deletion classifier 156 andfinal deletion classifier 158 may be “a user has consumed a portion ofrecorded media asset that is not an entirety of the recorded mediaasset,” “O.K. to Delete” and “Do Not Delete” respectively. Rule entry164 may include a value corresponding instruction 160 that definesupdating a deletion classifier associated with a given recorded mediaasset from “O.K. to Delete” to “Do Not Delete,” in response to detectingthat a user has consumed a portion, but not an entirety, of the givenrecorded media asset. For rule entry 166, the values of trigger event152, initial deletion classifier 156 and final deletion classifier 158may be “a user has consumed a portion of recorded media asset that isnot an entirety of the recorded media asset,” “Recommended to Delete”and “Do Not Delete” respectively. Rule entry 166 may include a valuecorresponding to instruction 160 that defines updating a deletionclassifier associated with a given recorded media asset from“Recommended to Delete” to “Do Not Delete,” in response to detectingthat a user has consumed a portion, but not an entirety, of the givenrecorded media asset.

The media guidance application may query the deletion classificationdatabase for a first rule entry, where a value corresponding to atrigger event field associated with the first rule entry matches thefirst event and a value corresponding to a initial deletion classifierfield associated with the first rule entry matches the first deletionclassifier. For example, the media guidance application may query (e.g.,by using database management languages such as SQL, JAPQL, CODASYL oranother suitable language) database 150 for a rule entry that has avalue corresponding to trigger event 152 of “a user has consumed aportion of recorded media asset that is not an entirety of the recordedmedia asset” and a value corresponding to initial deletion classifier156 of “O.K. to Delete.” As an illustrative example, the media guidanceapplication may use SQL SELECT command (e.g., SELECT * FROM “database150” WHERE (“trigger event 152 value”=“a user has consumed a portion ofrecorded media asset that is not an entirety of the recorded mediaasset”) AND (“initial deletion classifier 156”=“O.K. to Delete”)) toperform the query. The media guidance application may retrieve, based onthe querying, the first rile entry that is associated with both thefirst event and the first deletion classifier. For example, the mediaguidance application may retrieve rule entry 164 that is associated withboth trigger event field value of “a user has consumed a portion ofrecorded media asset that is not an entirety of the recorded mediaasset” and initial deletion classifier field value of “O.K. to Delete.”The query result may return a unique identifier associated with ruleentry 164, a pointer or link to rule entry 164 or rule entry 164 itself.

The media guidance application may retrieve a value corresponding to afinal deletion classifier field associated with the first rule entry,where the value corresponding to the final deletion classifier fieldassociated with the first rule entry is a second deletion classifier.For example, the media guidance application may retrieve “Do Not Delete”corresponding to final deletion classifier 158 associated with ruleentry 164. The media guidance application may update the recorded mediaasset properties data structure by substituting the first deletionclassifier associated with the recorded media asset with the seconddeletion classifier. For example, the media guidance application mayupdate data structure 100 by substituting “O.K. to Delete” deletionclassifier associated with “Finding Nemo” with “Do Not Delete” deletionclassifier. FIG. 1C depicts updated data structure 100, where, for entry110 corresponding to “Finding Nemo”, value associated with deletionclassifier 108 is “Do Not Delete” following the update.

The media guidance application may use deletion classifiers to grouprecorded media asset identifiers in a display so that a user can easilyidentify a deletion classifiers associated with a given recorded mediaassets. For example, the media guidance application generate for displayidentifiers corresponding to recorded media assets associated with “DoNot Delete” delete classifier with one type of indicator (e.g., a reddot alongside the recorded media assets) and identifiers correspondingto recorded media assets associated with “O.K. to Delete” deleteclassifier with another type of indicator (e.g., a yellow dot alongsidethe recorded media assets). The media guidance application may, whengenerating for display an indicator associated with a given recordedmedia asset, retrieve deletion classifier associated with the givenrecorded media asset in order to determine type of indicator. In someembodiments, the media guidance application may receive, via user inputinterface 610, a user request to view only recorded media assetsassociated with a specific deletion classifier (e.g., “Recommended toDelete”). The media guidance application may access data structure 100to determine entries that that are associated with the specific deletionclassifier. As an illustrative example, the media guidance applicationmay retrieve entries 114, 118 and 120 that are associated with“Recommended to Delete” deletion classifier. The media guidanceapplication may retrieve values corresponding to media asset identifier104 and media asset title 106 for entries 114, 118 and 120 and based onthe values, generate for display media asset identifiers for recordedmedia assets entries 114, 118 and 120. In some embodiments, the mediaguidance application may automatically delete recorded media assets thatare associated with a specific deletion classifier (e.g., “Recommendedto Delete”). The media guidance application may determine, based onvalues corresponding to media asset identifier 104, media assetidentifiers corresponding to recorded media assets that are associatedwith the specific deletion classifier. The media guidance applicationmay set a “Delete” flag associated with the determined media assetidentifiers to “true” to select recorded media assets corresponding tothe determined media asset identifiers for deletion.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may automaticallydelete a portion but not an entirety of a recorded media asset. Forexample, the media guidance application may determine that a user haswatched first ten minutes of “Finding Nemo.” and delete the first tenminutes of “Finding Nemo.” In order to selectively delete portions of arecorded media asset, the media guidance application may compare timecode associated with a given frame of the recorded media asset with athreshold time code to determine whether the given frame should bedeleted. Time code associated with a frame of the media asset may be inthe format (hour:minute:second:frame) where (hour:minute:second) portionindicates an amount of time elapsed from start point of the media assetand (frame) identifies a frame associated with point in time indicatedby the (hour: minute: second) portion. For example, for the case wherethe first ten minutes of “Finding Nemo” is to be deleted, the mediaguidance application may select frames that have a time code preceding(00:10:00:00) for deletion.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may, upon detectinga pre-defined trigger event, change current deletion classifierassociated with a recorded media asset back to a deletion classifierthat was previously associated with the recorded media asset.Specifically, the media guidance application may receive a second datapacket containing information about a second event corresponding to therecorded media asset. For example, the media guidance application mayreceive a data packet containing information that “Finding Nemo” isfreely available through a media consumption platform associated withthe user (e.g., “Finding Nemo” is available for free on the user'sNetflix account). The media guidance application may access the recordedmedia asset properties data structure to retrieve the second deletionclassifier associated with the recorded media asset. For example, themedia guidance application may access entry 110 in updated datastructure 100 (depicted in FIG. 1C) and retrieve value corresponding todeletion classifier 108 (e.g., “Do Not Delete”).

The media guidance application may retrieve, from the deletionclassification database, a second rule entry that is associated withboth the second event and the second deletion classifier. For example,the media guidance application may retrieve (e.g., by using SQL SELECTcommand), from database 150, rule entry 166 that has a value of “aversion of recorded media asset is freely available through a mediaconsumption platform associated with the user” corresponding to triggerevent 152 and “Do Not Delete” corresponding to initial deletionclassifier 156. Rule entry 166 may also include a value of “O.K. toDelete” corresponding to final deletion classifier 158, and aninstruction, corresponding to instruction 160, for updating a deletionclassifier associated with a given recorded media asset from “Do NotDelete” to “O.K. to Delete,” in response to detecting that a version ofrecorded media asset is freely available through a media consumptionplatform associated with the user. The media guidance application mayupdate an entry in data structure 100 by substituting current valuecorresponding to deletion classifier 108 for the entry with valuecorresponding to final deletion classifier 158 associated with thesecond rule entry. For example, the media guidance application mayupdate the data structure 100 by substituting “Do Not Delete” deletionclassifier associated with entry 110 with “O.K. to Delete” deletionclassifier.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may be configured toupdate a deletion classifier associated with a recorded media asset froma current deletion classifier to a new deletion classifier based on atleast two factors: detecting a pre-defined trigger event and determiningsome pre-defined criterion has been fulfilled. In some embodiments, arule entry of the plurality of rule entries may include an additionalinformation field. For example, database 150 may include a fieldadditional information 154. The entry may also include an instructionfor updating the deletion classifier associated with the given recordedmedia asset that includes an instruction for updating the deletionclassifier associated with the given recorded media asset in response todetecting both an event corresponding to a value of trigger event fieldassociated with the rule entry and determining that a criterion definedby a value of the additional information field is fulfilled.

As an illustrative example, database 150 may include rule entry 170which has a value of “user has consumed a portion of recorded mediaasset that is not an entirety of the recorded media asset” correspondingto trigger event 152, value of “user is not interested in the recordedmedia asset” corresponding to additional information 154, a value of“O.K. to Delete” corresponding to initial deletion classifier 156 and avalue of “Recommended to Delete” corresponding to final deletionclassifier 158. In some embodiments, a value corresponding to additionalinformation 154 may also include an instruction that defines how acriterion defined by the value corresponding to additional information154 may be fulfilled. As an illustrative example, for the case wherevalue corresponding to additional information 154 is “user is notinterested in the recorded media asset,” the value may also include aconditional programming statement that defines a “false” value for an“interested in media asset” field or a score quantifying a user'sinterest in a media asset being less than a threshold score value asindicators of a user not being interested in a media asset. Rule entry170 may include an instruction, corresponding to instruction 160, forupdating deletion classifier associated with a given recorded mediaasset from “O.K. to Delete” to “Recommended to Delete,” in response toboth detecting that a user has consumed a portion of recorded mediaasset that is not an entirety of the recorded media asset anddetermining that the user is not interested in the recorded media asset.

For the case where current deletion classifier associated with “FindingNemo” is “O.K. to Delete,” the media guidance application may, upondetecting that a user has watched ten minutes of “Finding Nemo,” accessa data structure (e.g., a user profile data structure) to determinewhether the user is interested in “Finding Nemo.” As an illustrativeexample, in response to determining that the user is interested in“Finding Nemo” (e.g., retrieving a “true” value for an “interested inmedia asset” field associated with “Finding Nemo”), the media guidanceapplication may determine that the criterion defined by value of theadditional information field is not fulfilled. Accordingly, the mediaguidance application may refrain from updating the deletion classifierassociated with “Finding Nemo.” As another illustrative example, inresponse to determining that the user is not interested in “FindingNemo” (e.g., retrieving a “false” value for an “interested in mediaasset” field associated with “Finding Nemo”), the media guidanceapplication may determine that the criterion defined by value of theadditional information field is fulfilled. Accordingly, the mediaguidance application may update the deletion classifier associated with“Finding Nemo” from “O.K. to Delete” to “Recommended to Delete.”

The media guidance application may store, database 150, rule entriesthat correspond to different combinations of trigger event field valuesand additional information field values. A value that is associated withthe trigger event 152 for one rule entry may be associated with theadditional information 154 for another rule and vice versa. Value of thetrigger event field and/or value of the additional information field mayinclude, but is not limited to: a version of the given recorded mediaasset becoming available for free through a media consumption platform(e.g., “Finding Nemo” becoming available for free on Netflix); a versionof the given recorded media asset being scheduled for broadcast withinsome pre-defined time period (e.g., “Finding Nemo” being scheduled forbroadcast on Television channel ABC Family within one week time windowfrom a current time); a user consuming a portion of the given recordedmedia asset (e.g., user watched ten minutes of “Finding Nemo”); the userconsuming a portion of a version of the given recorded media asset thatis available from a different source (e.g., user watched ten minutes of“Finding Nemo” on Netflix); media asset associated with the givenrecorded media asset being scheduled to be available within somepre-defined time period (e.g., “Finding Dory,” a sequel film to “FindingNemo,” being scheduled for broadcast on Television channel ABC Familywithin one week time window from a current time); available memory of astorage device that the given recorded media asset is stored on fallingbelow a pre-defined threshold available memory value (e.g., availablestorage capacity of DVR that “Finding Nemo” is stored on falling belowten percent of total storage capacity of the DVR); duration of time forwhich the given recorded media asset was stored on the storage deviceexceeding a pre-defined threshold storage time duration value (e.g.,“Finding Nemo” being stored for more than three months); a level ofinterest of the user in the given recorded media asset (e.g., userhaving a interest score of eight in “Finding Nemo,” where interest scoreis defined on a scale of one to ten with a higher score corresponding toa greater level of interest); a number of users who have consumed thegiven recorded media asset (e.g., three registered users have consumed“Finding Nemo”); an identity of the user who has consumed the givenrecorded media asset (e.g., Toddler Tom has consumed “Finding Nemo”). Insome embodiments, a rule entry may include multiple additionalinformation fields. In such instances, the media guidance applicationmay update a deletion classifier associated with a given recorded givenmedia asset upon determining that all criteria defined by valuescorresponding to the multiple additional information fields have beenfulfilled.

The media guidance application may change a deletion classifierassociated with a given recorded multiple times, based on a number ofdifferent rule entries included in database 150. As an illustrativeexample, upon first recording a media asset, the media guidanceapplication may assign, based on a rule entry in database 150, thedeletion classifier associated with the recorded media asset to be “DoNot Delete.” In some embodiments, the media guidance application may,upon detecting that a user has completely consumed the recorded mediaasset, determine a level of interest of the user in the recorded mediaasset. The media guidance application may, upon determining that theuser is interested in the recorded media asset, change the deletionclassifier associated with the recorded media asset to “O.K. to Delete,”because there is a possibility that the user may wish to consume therecorded media asset again. The media guidance application may, upondetermining that the user is not interested in the recorded media asset,change the deletion classifier associated with the recorded media assetto “Recommended to Delete,” because it is unlikely that the user wouldwish to consume the recorded media asset again.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may, upon detectingthat a user has completely consumed the recorded media asset, determinean identity of the user. The media guidance application may determineidentity of the user based on an unique identifier, such as a string ofcharacters or bio-metric data (e.g., finger print, retina scan, voicerecognition or another suitable bio-metric data) received from the user.In some embodiments, the media guidance application may access sensordevices (e.g., image capture devices, motion sensors, wireless signaldetectors, and other suitable sensor devices) to determine identity ofthe user. The media guidance application may compare identity of theuser who completely consumed the recorded media with identity (retrievedfrom memory) of user who recorded the recorded media asset to determinewhether the user who recorded the recorded media asset has consumed therecorded media asset. The media guidance application may, upondetermining that the user who recorded the recorded media asset has notyet consumed the recorded media asset, refrain from updating thedeletion classifier associated with the recorded media asset. The mediaguidance application may, upon determining that the user who recordedthe recorded media asset has consumed the recorded media asset, updatethe deletion classifier associated with the recorded media asset (e.g.,from “Do Not Delete” to “O.K. to Delete” or “Recommended to Delete.”).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may, upon detectingthat a user has completely consumed the recorded media asset, determineidentity of user(s) who have not yet consumed the recorded media asset.For example, the media guidance application may access a registeredusers' data structure to determine identity of other users who areauthorized access to the recorded media asset. The media guidanceapplication may retrieve, based on a identity of a user who has not yetconsumed the recorded media asset, user profile data (e.g., age,parental control settings, viewing preferences and other similar data)associated with user who has not yet consumed the recorded media asset.The media guidance application may compare user profile data of the userwho has not yet consumed the recorded media asset with metadataassociated with the recorded media asset to determine whether therecorded media asset is of interest and/or suitable for the user who hasnot yet consumed the recorded media asset. Based on the outcome of thedetermination, the media guidance application may update deletionclassifier associated with the recorded media asset with differentvalues. As an illustrative example, the recorded media asset may be “TheAvengers” with parental control rating of PG-13. The media guidanceapplication may, upon determining that the only other authorized user istoddler Tom, who is younger that thirteen years and therefore not suitedto watch the “The Avengers,” change deletion classifier associated with“The Avengers” to “Recommended to Delete.”

In some embodiments, rule entries in database 150 may include aninstruction to take into account user media consumption behavior duringperiod of time when a recorded media asset was stored but not consumed.Based on the rule, the media guidance application may, upon determiningthat “Finding Nemo” has been stored for longer than three months withoutbeing watched, retrieve information about the user's media consumptionbehavior (e.g., by accessing a user history data structure) for thatthree months. The media guidance application may, upon determining fromthe user history data that the user has been consuming a less than athreshold amount of media assets, refrain from updating the deletionclassifier. The media guidance application may, upon determining fromthe user history data that the user has been consuming more than athreshold amount of media assets, update the deletion classifier. Forexample, if the media guidance application determines that user has notbeen watching media assets during the three months for which “FindingNemo” was stored, the media guidance application may maintain deletionclassifier associated with “Finding Nemo” as “Do Not Delete.” Forexample, if the media guidance application determines that user has beenwatching other media assets during the three months for which “FindingNemo” was stored, the media guidance application may update deletionclassifier associated with “Finding Nemo” to “Recommended to Delete.”

In some embodiments, rule entries in the deletion classificationdatabase may have priority values associated with them where a priorityvalue associated with a given rule indicates an importance of the givenrule on some pre-defined scale. In some embodiments, each rule entry ofthe plurality of rule entries may further include a priority field,where a value corresponding to a priority field associated with a givenrule entry defines a priority level associated with the given ruleentry. For example, data base may include field priority 162 for storingpriority level associated with a given rule entry. As an illustrativeexample, priority level may be defined on a scale of one to ten, withpriority level of ten being most important. For example, rule entry 164,with value of “a user has consumed a portion of recorded media assetthat is not an entirety of the recorded media asset” corresponding totrigger event 152, value of “O.K. to Delete” corresponding to initialdeletion classifier 156 and value of “Do Not Delete” corresponding tofinal deletion classifier 158, may have priority value of fivecorresponding to priority 162. For example, rule entry 170, with valueof “user has consumed a portion of recorded media asset that is not anentirety of the recorded media asset” corresponding to trigger event152, value of “user is not interested in the recorded media asset”corresponding to additional information 154, value of “O.K. to Delete”corresponding to initial deletion classifier 168, and value of“Recommended to Delete” corresponding to final deletion classifier 158may have a priority value of ten corresponding to priority 162. Thus, inthis illustrative example, rule entry 170 is a more important than ruleentry 164.

In some embodiments, the deletion classification database may includemultiple rule entries that are associated with the same trigger eventand initial deletion classifier (e.g., rule entries that have sametrigger event and initial deletion classifier but different additionalinformation field values). As an illustrative example, database 150 mayinclude rule entries 164 and 170 that both have a value of “a user hasconsumed a portion of recorded media asset that is not an entirety ofthe recorded media asset” corresponding to trigger event 152 and valueof “O.K. to Delete” corresponding to initial deletion classifier 156. Insuch cases, the media guidance application may select the most importantrule entry among the multiple rule entries for updating deletionclassifier. In some embodiments, querying the deletion classificationdatabase for the first rule entry may return multiple rule entries. Forexample, the media guidance application may query database 150 (e.g.,using a SQL SELECT command) for rule entries that are associated with avalue of “a user has consumed a portion of recorded media asset that isnot an entirety of the recorded media asset” corresponding to triggerevent 152 and value of “O.K. to Delete” corresponding to initialdeletion classifier 156. The query result may include rule entries 164and 170, pointers or links to rule entries 164 and 170 or uniqueidentifiers corresponding to rule entries 164 and 170.

The media guidance application may, when determining the first ruleentry, determine, based on comparing values corresponding to priorityfield associated with each rule entry of the multiple rule entries, arule entry of the multiple rule entries that is associated with thehighest priority level. For example, the media guidance application mayaccess rule entry 164 and retrieve value corresponding to priority 162(e.g., five). The media guidance application may similarly access ruleentry 170 and retrieve value corresponding to priority 162 (e.g., ten).The media guidance application may use a comparison function todetermine whether priority value associated with rule entry 164 isgreater than the priority value associated with rule entry 170. In someembodiments, the media guidance application may, when determining a ruleentry that corresponds to the highest priority value, initialize a“maximum priority value” variable to null and a “rule entry to beapplied” variable to null. Upon selecting a rule entry, the mediaguidance application may update the “maximum priority value” variablewith priority value associated with the selected rule entry and a “ruleentry to be applied” variable with a pointer to the selected rule entry.The media guidance application may then determine whether there isanother rule entry that can be selected. Upon determining that there isanother rule entry that can be selected, the media guidance applicationmay retrieve a priority value associated with the another rule entry.The media guidance application may compare the priority value associatedwith the another rule entry with the value of the “maximum priorityvalue” variable to determine whether the another rule entry has a higherpriority value (e.g., using a numerical comparison function). Inresponse to determining that the another rule entry has a higherpriority value, the media guidance application may update the “maximumpriority value” variable with priority value associated with the anotherrule entry and a “rule entry to be applied” variable with a pointer tothe another rule entry. In response to determining that the another ruleentry does not have a higher priority value, the media guidanceapplication may determine whether there is any other rule entry that canbe selected. The media guidance application may iterate through allavailable rule entries in a similar fashion. The media guidanceapplication may select the rule entry of the multiple rule entries thatis associated with the highest priority level as the first rule entry.Following from the example above, the media guidance application mayselect rule entry 170 as the first rule entry.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine that,in order to apply the most important rule entry associated with atrigger event and an initial deletion classifier, criterion associatedwith the most important rule entry has to be fulfilled. The mediaguidance application may, upon determining that the criterion associatedwith the most important rule entry is not fulfilled, select the secondmost important rule entry that is also associated with the trigger eventand the initial deletion classifier. In some embodiments, the rule entryof the multiple rule entries that is associated with the highestpriority level may further include an additional information field. Forexample, rule entry 170 may include a value corresponding to additionalinformation 154. The media guidance application may retrieve a valueassociated with the additional information field. For example, the mediaguidance application may retrieve value of “user is not interested inthe recorded media asset” corresponding to additional information 154associated with rule entry 170.

The media guidance application may determine, based on the valueassociated with the additional information field, relevant informationrequired for determining whether a criterion defined by the value of theadditional information field is fulfilled. The media guidanceapplication may determine, based on “user is not interested in therecorded media asset,” that information that defines the user's interestin “Finding Nemo” is necessary to determine whether the user isinterested in “Finding Nemo.” In some embodiments, the value associatedwith the additional information field may include data that definesacceptable relevant information. As an illustrative example, the datathat defines acceptable relevant information for “user is not interestedin the recorded media asset” may be a value corresponding to “interestedin media asset” field associated with a media asset or a scorequantifying a user's interest in a media asset. The media guidanceapplication may access a data structure, located at any of storage 608,media content source 716 and media guidance data source 718, containingthe relevant information to retrieve the relevant information. Forexample, the media guidance application may access a user profile datastructure, associated with the user, to retrieve a value correspondingto an “interested in media asset” field corresponding to “Finding Nemo.”As an illustrative example, the media guidance application may retrievea “null” value which indicates that there is no information that definesthe user's interest in “Finding Nemo.”

The media guidance application may compare the value associated with theadditional information field with the relevant information to determinewhether the criterion defined by the value of the additional informationfield is fulfilled. For example, the media guidance application maycompare the “null” value with “user is not interested in the recordedmedia asset” by executing an appropriate logic program script todetermine whether “null” value corresponds to a user not beinginterested in a recorded media asset. The media guidance applicationmay, in response to determining that the criterion defined by the valueof the additional information field is not fulfilled, select rule entryof the multiple rule entries that is associated with next highestpriority level as the first rule entry instead. For example, the mediaguidance application may determine that a “null” value, which is notincluded in data that defines acceptable relevant information, providesno information defining the user's interest in “Finding Nemo,” andaccordingly, does not correspond to the user not being interested in“Finding Nemo.” In this case, the media guidance application may selectrule entry 164, which is associated with priority value of five, as thefirst rule entry instead.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may provide a userinformation regarding why a given recorded media asset identifier wasclassified into a specific deletion classifier. In some embodiments, themedia guidance application may generate for simultaneous display anidentifier corresponding to the recorded media asset, deletionclassifier associated with the recorded media asset and a reason forclassifying the recorded media asset into the deletion classifierassociated with the recorded media asset.

FIG. 2 depicts an illustrative display that the media guidanceapplication may generate for display for providing information regardingwhy a give recorded media asset identifier was classified into aspecific deletion classifier, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure. FIG. 2 depicts an illustrative display 200, which may begenerated by control circuitry that executes a media guidanceapplication on any user equipment. The functionality of user equipment,control circuitry, and the media guidance application is described infurther detail below with respect to FIGS. 4-7. Control circuitry maycause display 200 to be presented using the one or more of the processesdescribed in FIGS. 8-10.

The media guidance application may include in display 200 deletionclassifiers 202, 218 and 224 (e.g., “Do Not Delete,” “O.K. to Delete,”and “Recommended to Delete” in the depicted illustrative example). Themedia guidance application may generate for display media assetidentifiers associated with at least one of the deletion classifiers202, 218 and 224. For example, the media guidance application maygenerate for display media asset identifiers 204, 206 and 208 that areassociated with deletion classifiers 202, media asset identifiers 220and 222 that are associated with deletion classifier 218 and media assetidentifiers 226, 228 and 230 that are associated with deletionclassifier 224. In some embodiments, the media guidance application mayspatially organize, in the display, deletion classifiers 202, 218 and224 and media asset identifiers 204, 206, 208, 220, 222, 226, 228 and230 such that it is easy to distinguish which media asset identifier isassociated with which deletion classifier. In some embodiments, themedia guidance application may generate an indicator with each mediaasset identifier, where the indicator uniquely identifies a deletionclassifier associated with a given media asset identifier. Indicatoridentifying deletion classifier may include, but is not limited to, text(e.g., “Do Not Delete” text listing associated with a given mediaasset), graphical representation (e.g., a red dot to indicate “Do NotDelete,” a yellow dot to indicate “O.K. to Delete,” and a green dot toindicate “Recommended to Delete”) and audio (e.g., upon receiving aselection of a media asset, playing an audio clip that uniquelyidentifiers deletion classifier associated with the media asset).

The media guidance application may include in display 200 notification210 for providing a user information regarding why a given recordedmedia asset identifier was classified into a specific deletionclassifier. As an illustrative example, subsequent to updating adeletion classifier associated with recorded media asset correspondingto media asset identifier 204 (e.g., “Finding Nemo”) from “O.K. toDelete” to “Do Not Delete,” in response to detecting that a user haswatched ten minutes of the recorded media asset corresponding to mediaasset identifier 204, the media guidance application may generatenotification 210 that says “You watched a portion that is not anentirety of Finding Nemo.”

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may provide a useran option to change a deletion classifier associated with a recordedmedia asset. Specifically, the media guidance application may generatefor display a plurality of selectable deletion classifier optionscorresponding to the recorded media asset, where each selectabledeletion classifier option of the plurality of selectable deletionclassifier options corresponds to a deletion classifier of the pluralityof deletion classifiers. As an illustrative example, the media guidanceapplication may include, in display 200, selectable deletion classifieroption 212 (e.g., Move to “Recommended to Delete”) corresponding todeletion classifier 224 (e.g., “Recommended to Delete”), and selectabledeletion classifier option 214 (e.g., Move to “O.K. to Delete”)corresponding to deletion classifier 218 (e.g., “O.K. to Delete”).Selectable deletion classifier options 212 and 214 may be associatedwith media asset identifier 204 (e.g., “Finding Nemo”). The mediaguidance application may also generate for display selectable option 216(e.g., delete) to allow a user to select a recorded media asset fordeletion. The media guidance application may receive a user selection ofa selectable deletion classifier option of the plurality of selectabledeletion classifier options. For example, the media guidance applicationmay receive, via user input interface 610, a selection of selectabledeletion classifier options 212 associated with media asset identifier204.

The media guidance application may access a data structure that containsinformation about mapping between the plurality of selectable deletionclassifier options and the plurality of deletion classifiers todetermine a deletion classifier corresponding to the selected selectabledeletion classifier option. For example, the media guidance applicationmay access a look-up table, located at any of storage 608, media contentsource 716 and media guidance data source 718, that defines relationshipbetween selectable deletion classifier options and the plurality ofdeletion classifiers to determine which deletion classifier selectabledeletion classifier option 212 corresponds to. The media guidanceapplication may retrieve the deletion classifier corresponding to theselected selectable deletion classifier option. For example, the mediaguidance application may retrieve deletion classifier 224 (e.g.,“Recommended to Delete”) that corresponds to selectable deletionclassifier option 212. The media guidance application may update therecorded media asset properties data structure by substituting thesecond deletion classifier associated with the deletion classifiercorresponding to the selected selectable deletion classifier option. Forexample, the media guidance application may determine, in mannersdescribed previously in regards to retrieving specific data, that entry110 in data structure is associated with media asset identifier 204. Themedia guidance application may update, for entry 110, valuecorresponding to deletion classifier 108 from “Do Not Delete” to“Recommended to Delete.”

FIG. 3 depicts an illustrative display that the media guidanceapplication may generate for display for informing a user that certainrecorded media assets will be automatically deleted, in accordance withsome embodiments of the disclosure. FIG. 3 depicts an illustrativedisplay 300, which may be generated by control circuitry that executes amedia guidance application on any user equipment. The functionality ofuser equipment, control circuitry, and the media guidance application isdescribed in further detail below with respect to FIGS. 4-7. Controlcircuitry may cause display 300 to be presented using the one or more ofthe processes described in FIGS. 8-10.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may automaticallydelete recorded media assets associated with a specific deletionclassifier after some predefined period of time has elapsed.Specifically, the media guidance application may select recorded mediaassets associated with a third deletion classifier of the plurality ofdeletion classifiers for automatic deletion after a pre-defined periodof time has elapsed. For example, the media guidance application mayselect all recorded media assets (e.g., Beauty and the Beast, TheAvengers and National Treasure) associated with the “Recommended toDelete” deletion classifier for automatic deletion after seventy twohours has elapsed from a current time (e.g., December 4^(th), 12:00A.M.). The media guidance application may store, either locally atstorage 608 or remotely at media content source 716 and media guidancedata source 718, a “deletion time” variable that corresponds to a dateand time when the recorded media assets selected for automatic deletionshould be automatically deleted. Following from the example above, themedia guidance application may store a value that is a sum of seventytwo hours and the current time (i.e., December 7^(th), 12:00 A.M.) inthe “deletion time” variable.

The media guidance application may generate for display a recommendationto consume the recorded media assets associated with the third deletionclassifier before the pre-defined period of time has elapsed. Forexample, the media guidance application may generate for displaynotification 302 (e.g., “the listed media assets will be deleted onDecember 7th, 12:00 A.M. Watch the media assets before they aredeleted”). The media guidance application may display media assetidentifiers 304, 306 and 308 (e.g., Beauty and the Beast, The Avengersand National Treasure respectively) corresponding to recorded mediaassets associated with the third deletion classifier. The media guidanceapplication may also include, in display 300, selectable options forreceiving user input to perform a specific action related to any ofmedia asset identifiers 304, 306 and 308. For example, the mediaguidance application may display selectable options 310, 312, 314 and316 (e.g., “Watch,” “Move to ‘Do not Delete’,” “Move to ‘O.K. toDelete’,” and “Delete Now” respectively).

The media guidance application may receive a data packet containinginformation that the pre-defined period of time has elapsed. Forexample, the media guidance application may receive a data packetcontaining a date and time stamp of a current date and time (e.g.,December 7th, 12:00 A.M). The media guidance application may determine,by using a Boolean comparison function to compare the date and timestamp for the current date and time with value of the “deletion time”variable, that seventy-two hours from December 4^(th), 12:00 A.M. haselapsed. The media guidance application may, in response to receivingthe data packet containing information that the pre-defined period oftime has elapsed, automatically delete the recorded media assetsassociated with the third deletion classifier. For example, the mediaguidance application may set “Delete” flags associated with recordedmedia assets corresponding to media asset identifiers 304, 306 and 308to “true.” The media guidance application may subsequently automaticallydelete recorded media assets corresponding to media asset identifiers304, 306 and 308.

The amount of content available to users in any given content deliverysystem can be substantial. Consequently, many users desire a form ofmedia guidance through an interface that allows users to efficientlynavigate content selections and easily identify content that they maydesire. An application that provides such guidance is referred to hereinas an interactive media guidance application or, sometimes, a mediaguidance application or a guidance application.

Interactive media guidance applications may take various forms dependingon the content for which they provide guidance. One typical type ofmedia guidance application is an interactive television program guide.Interactive television program guides (sometimes referred to aselectronic program guides) are well-known guidance applications that,among other things, allow users to navigate among and locate many typesof content or media assets. Interactive media guidance applications maygenerate graphical user interface screens that enable a user to navigateamong, locate and select content. As referred to herein, the terms“media asset” and “content” should be understood to mean anelectronically consumable user asset, such as television programming, aswell as pay-per-view programs, on-demand programs (as in video-on-demand(VOD) systems), Internet content (e.g., streaming content, downloadablecontent, Webcasts, etc.), video clips, audio, content information,pictures, rotating images, documents, playlists, websites, articles,books, electronic books, blogs, advertisements, chat sessions, socialmedia, applications, games, and/or any other media or multimedia and/orcombination of the same. Guidance applications also allow users tonavigate among and locate content. As referred to herein, the term“multimedia” should be understood to mean content that utilizes at leasttwo different content forms described above, for example, text, audio,images, video, or interactivity content forms. Content may be stored,played, displayed or accessed by user equipment devices, but can also bepart of a live performance.

The media guidance application and/or any instructions for performingany of the embodiments discussed herein may be encoded on computerreadable media. Computer readable media includes any media capable ofstoring data. The computer readable media may be transitory, including,but not limited to, propagating electrical or electromagnetic signals,or may be non-transitory including, but not limited to, volatile andnon-volatile computer memory or storage devices such as a hard disk,floppy disk, USB drive, DVD, CD, media cards, register memory, processorcaches, Random Access Memory (“RAM”), etc.

With the advent of the Internet, mobile computing, and high-speedwireless networks, users are accessing media on user equipment deviceson which they traditionally did not. As referred to herein, the phrase“user equipment device,” “user equipment,” “user device,” “electronicdevice,” “electronic equipment,” “media equipment device,” or “mediadevice” should be understood to mean any device for accessing thecontent described above, such as a television, a Smart TV, a set-topbox, an integrated receiver decoder (IRD) for handling satellitetelevision, a digital storage device, a digital media receiver (DMR), adigital media adapter (DMA), a streaming media device, a DVD player, aDVD recorder, a connected DVD, a local media server, a BLU-RAY player, aBLU-RAY recorder, a personal computer (PC), a laptop computer, a tabletcomputer, a WebTV box, a personal computer television (PC/TV), a PCmedia server, a PC media center, a hand-held computer, a stationarytelephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile telephone, aportable video player, a portable music player, a portable gamingmachine, a smart phone, or any other television equipment, computingequipment, or wireless device, and/or combination of the same. In someembodiments, the user equipment device may have a front facing screenand a rear facing screen, multiple front screens, or multiple angledscreens. In some embodiments, the user equipment device may have a frontfacing camera and/or a rear facing camera. On these user equipmentdevices, users may be able to navigate among and locate the same contentavailable through a television. Consequently, media guidance may beavailable on these devices, as well. The guidance provided may be forcontent available only through a television, for content available onlythrough one or more of other types of user equipment devices, or forcontent available both through a television and one or more of the othertypes of user equipment devices. The media guidance applications may beprovided as on-line applications (i.e., provided on a web-site), or asstand-alone applications or clients on user equipment devices. Variousdevices and platforms that may implement media guidance applications aredescribed in more detail below.

One of the functions of the media guidance application is to providemedia guidance data to users. As referred to herein, the phrase “mediaguidance data” or “guidance data” should be understood to mean any datarelated to content or data used in operating the guidance application.For example, the guidance data may include program information, guidanceapplication settings, user preferences, user profile information, medialistings, media-related information (e.g., broadcast times, broadcastchannels, titles, descriptions, ratings information (e.g., parentalcontrol ratings, critic's ratings, etc.), genre or category information,actor information, logo data for broadcasters' or providers' logos, etc.media format (e.g., standard definition, high definition, 3D, etc.),advertisement information (e.g., text, images, media clips, etc.),on-demand information, blogs, websites, and any other type of guidancedata that is helpful for a user to navigate among and locate desiredcontent selections.

FIGS. 4-5 show illustrative display screens that may be used to providemedia guidance data. The display screens shown in FIGS. 4-5 may beimplemented on any suitable user equipment device or platform. While thedisplays of FIGS. 4-5 are illustrated as full screen displays, they mayalso be fully or partially overlaid over content being displayed. A usermay indicate a desire to access content information by selecting aselectable option provided in a display screen (e.g., a menu option, alistings option, an icon, a hyperlink, etc.) or pressing a dedicatedbutton (e.g., a GUIDE button) on a remote control or other user inputinterface or device. In response to the user's indication, the mediaguidance application may provide a display screen with media guidancedata organized in one of several ways, such as by time and channel in agrid, by time, by channel, by source, by content type, by category(e.g., movies, sports, news, children, or other categories ofprogramming), or other predefined, user-defined, or other organizationcriteria.

FIG. 4 shows illustrative grid of a program listings display 400arranged by time and channel that also enables access to different typesof content in a single display. Display 400 may include grid 402 with:(1) a column of channel/content type identifiers 404, where eachchannel/content type identifier (which is a cell in the column)identifies a different channel or content type available; and (2) a rowof time identifiers 406, where each time identifier (which is a cell inthe row) identifies a time block of programming. Grid 402 also includescells of program listings, such as program listing 408, where eachlisting provides the title of the program provided on the listing'sassociated channel and time. With a user input device, a user can selectprogram listings by moving highlight region 410. Information relating tothe program listing selected by highlight region 410 may be provided inprogram information region 412. Region 412 may include, for example, theprogram title, the program description, the time the program is provided(if applicable), the channel the program is on (if applicable),program's rating, and other desired information.

In addition to providing access to linear programming (e.g., contentthat is scheduled to be transmitted to a plurality of user equipmentdevices at a predetermined time and is provided according to aschedule), the media guidance application also provides access tonon-linear programming (e.g., content accessible to a user equipmentdevice at any time and is not provided according to a schedule).Non-linear programming may include content from different contentsources including on-demand content (e.g., VOD), Internet content (e.g.,streaming media, downloadable media, etc.), locally stored content(e.g., content stored on any user equipment device described above orother storage device), or other time-independent content. On-demandcontent may include movies or any other content provided by a particularcontent provider (e.g., HBO On Demand providing “The Sopranos” and “CurbYour Enthusiasm”). HBO ON DEMAND is a service mark owned by Time WarnerCompany L.P. et al. and THE SOPRANOS and CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM aretrademarks owned by the Home Box Office, Inc. Internet content mayinclude web events, such as a chat session or Webcast, or contentavailable on-demand as streaming content or downloadable content throughan Internet web site or other Internet access (e.g. FTP).

Grid 402 may provide media guidance data for non-linear programmingincluding on-demand listing 414, recorded content listing 416, andInternet content listing 418. A display combining media guidance datafor content from different types of content sources is sometimesreferred to as a “mixed-media” display. Various permutations of thetypes of media guidance data that may be displayed that are differentthan display 400 may be based on user selection or guidance applicationdefinition (e.g., a display of only recorded and broadcast listings,only on-demand and broadcast listings, etc.). As illustrated, listings414, 416, and 418 are shown as spanning the entire time block displayedin grid 402 to indicate that selection of these listings may provideaccess to a display dedicated to on-demand listings, recorded listings,or Internet listings, respectively. In some embodiments, listings forthese content types may be included directly in grid 402. Additionalmedia guidance data may be displayed in response to the user selectingone of the navigational icons 420. (Pressing an arrow key on a userinput device may affect the display in a similar manner as selectingnavigational icons 420.)

Display 400 may also include video region 422, advertisement 424, andoptions region 426. Video region 422 may allow the user to view and/orpreview programs that are currently available, will be available, orwere available to the user. The content of video region 422 maycorrespond to, or be independent from, one of the listings displayed ingrid 402. Grid displays including a video region are sometimes referredto as picture-in-guide (PIG) displays. PIG displays and theirfunctionalities are described in greater detail in Satterfield et al.U.S. Pat. No. 6,564,378, issued May 13, 2003 and Yuen et al. U.S. Pat.No. 6,239,794, issued May 29, 2001, which are hereby incorporated byreference herein in their entireties. PIG displays may be included inother media guidance application display screens of the embodimentsdescribed herein.

Advertisement 424 may provide an advertisement for content that,depending on a viewer's access rights (e.g., for subscriptionprogramming), is currently available for viewing, will be available forviewing in the future, or may never become available for viewing, andmay correspond to or be unrelated to one or more of the content listingsin grid 402. Advertisement 424 may also be for products or servicesrelated or unrelated to the content displayed in grid 402. Advertisement424 may be selectable and provide further information about content,provide information about a product or a service, enable purchasing ofcontent, a product, or a service, provide content relating to theadvertisement, etc. Advertisement 424 may be targeted based on a user'sprofile/preferences, monitored user activity, the type of displayprovided, or on other suitable targeted advertisement bases.

While advertisement 424 is shown as rectangular or banner shaped,advertisements may be provided in any suitable size, shape, and locationin a guidance application display. For example, advertisement 424 may beprovided as a rectangular shape that is horizontally adjacent to grid402. This is sometimes referred to as a panel advertisement. Inaddition, advertisements may be overlaid over content or a guidanceapplication display or embedded within a display. Advertisements mayalso include text, images, rotating images, video clips, or other typesof content described above. Advertisements may be stored in a userequipment device having a guidance application, in a database connectedto the user equipment, in a remote location (including streaming mediaservers), or on other storage means, or a combination of theselocations. Providing advertisements in a media guidance application isdiscussed in greater detail in, for example, Knudson et al., U.S. PatentApplication Publication No. 2003/0110499, filed Jan. 17, 2003; Ward, IIIet al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,756,997, issued Jun. 29, 2004; and Schein et al.U.S. Pat. No. 6,388,714, issued May 14, 2002, which are herebyincorporated by reference herein in their entireties. It will beappreciated that advertisements may be included in other media guidanceapplication display screens of the embodiments described herein.

Options region 426 may allow the user to access different types ofcontent, media guidance application displays, and/or media guidanceapplication features. Options region 426 may be part of display 400 (andother display screens described herein), or may be invoked by a user byselecting an on-screen option or pressing a dedicated or assignablebutton on a user input device. The selectable options within optionsregion 426 may concern features related to program listings in grid 402or may include options available from a main menu display. Featuresrelated to program listings may include searching for other air times orways of receiving a program, recording a program, enabling seriesrecording of a program, setting program and/or channel as a favorite,purchasing a program, or other features. Options available from a mainmenu display may include search options, VOD options, parental controloptions, Internet options, cloud-based options, device synchronizationoptions, second screen device options, options to access various typesof media guidance data displays, options to subscribe to a premiumservice, options to edit a user's profile, options to access a browseoverlay, or other options.

The media guidance application may be personalized based on a user'spreferences. A personalized media guidance application allows a user tocustomize displays and features to create a personalized “experience”with the media guidance application. This personalized experience may becreated by allowing a user to input these customizations and/or by themedia guidance application monitoring user activity to determine varioususer preferences. Users may access their personalized guidanceapplication by logging in or otherwise identifying themselves to theguidance application. Customization of the media guidance applicationmay be made in accordance with a user profile. The customizations mayinclude varying presentation schemes (e.g., color scheme of displays,font size of text, etc.), aspects of content listings displayed (e.g.,only HDTV or only 3D programming, user-specified broadcast channelsbased on favorite channel selections, re-ordering the display ofchannels, recommended content, etc.), desired recording features (e.g.,recording or series recordings for particular users, recording quality,etc.), parental control settings, customized presentation of Internetcontent (e.g., presentation of social media content, e-mail,electronically delivered articles, etc.) and other desiredcustomizations.

The media guidance application may allow a user to provide user profileinformation or may automatically compile user profile information. Themedia guidance application may, for example, monitor the content theuser accesses and/or other interactions the user may have with theguidance application. Additionally, the media guidance application mayobtain all or part of other user profiles that are related to aparticular user (e.g., from other web sites on the Internet the useraccesses, such as www.allrovi.com, from other media guidanceapplications the user accesses, from other interactive applications theuser accesses, from another user equipment device of the user, etc.),and/or obtain information about the user from other sources that themedia guidance application may access. As a result, a user can beprovided with a unified guidance application experience across theuser's different user equipment devices. This type of user experience isdescribed in greater detail below in connection with FIG. 7. Additionalpersonalized media guidance application features are described ingreater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No.2005/0251827, filed Jul. 11, 2005, Boyer et al., U.S. Pat. No.7,165,098, issued Jan. 16, 2007, and Ellis et al., U.S. PatentApplication Publication No. 2002/0174430, filed Feb. 21, 2002, which arehereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.

Another display arrangement for providing media guidance is shown inFIG. 5. Video mosaic display 500 includes selectable options 502 forcontent information organized based on content type, genre, and/or otherorganization criteria. In display 500, television listings option 504 isselected, thus providing listings 506, 508, 510, and 512 as broadcastprogram listings. In display 500 the listings may provide graphicalimages including cover art, still images from the content, video clippreviews, live video from the content, or other types of content thatindicate to a user the content being described by the media guidancedata in the listing. Each of the graphical listings may also beaccompanied by text to provide further information about the contentassociated with the listing. For example, listing 508 may include morethan one portion, including media portion 514 and text portion 516.Media portion 514 and/or text portion 516 may be selectable to viewcontent in full-screen or to view information related to the contentdisplayed in media portion 514 (e.g., to view listings for the channelthat the video is displayed on).

The listings in display 500 are of different sizes listing 506 is largerthan listings 508, 510, and 512), but if desired, all the listings maybe the same size. Listings may be of different sizes or graphicallyaccentuated to indicate degrees of interest to the user or to emphasizecertain content, as desired by the content provider or based on userpreferences. Various systems and methods for graphically accentuatingcontent listings are discussed in, for example, Yates, U.S. PatentApplication Publication No. 2010/0153885, filed Nov. 12, 2009, which ishereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Users may access content and the media guidance application (and itsdisplay screens described above and below) from one or more of theiruser equipment devices. FIG. 6 shows a generalized embodiment ofillustrative user equipment device 600. More specific implementations ofuser equipment devices are discussed below in connection with FIG. 7.User equipment device 600 may receive content and data via input/output(hereinafter “I/O”) path 602. I/O path 602 may provide content (e.g.,broadcast programming, on-demand programming, Internet content, contentavailable over a local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN)and/or other content) and data to control circuitry 604, which includesprocessing circuitry 606 and storage 608. Control circuitry 604 may beused to send and receive commands, requests, and other suitable datausing I/O path 602. I/O path 602 may connect control circuitry 604 (andspecifically processing circuitry 606) to one or more communicationspaths (described below). I/O functions may be provided by one or more ofthese communications paths, but are shown as a single path in FIG. 6 toavoid overcomplicating the drawing.

Control circuitry 604 may be based on any suitable processing circuitrysuch as processing circuitry 606. As referred to herein, processingcircuitry should be understood to mean circuitry based on one or moremicroprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors,programmable logic devices, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs),application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc. and may include amulti-core processor (e.g., dual-core, quad-core, hexa-core, or anysuitable number of cores) or supercomputer. In some embodiments,processing circuitry may be distributed across multiple separateprocessors or processing units, for example, multiple of the same typeof processing units (e.g., two Intel Core i7 processors) or multipledifferent processors (e.g., an Intel Core i5 processor and an Intel Corei7 processor). In some embodiments, control circuitry 604 executesinstructions for a media guidance application stored in memory (i.e.,storage 608). Specifically, control circuitry 604 may be instructed bythe media guidance application to perform the functions discussed aboveand below. For example, the media guidance application may provideinstructions to control circuitry 604 to generate the media guidancedisplays. In some implementations, any action performed by controlcircuitry 604 may be based on instructions received from the mediaguidance application.

In client-server based embodiments, control circuitry 604 may includecommunications circuitry suitable for communicating with a guidanceapplication server or other networks or servers. The instructions forcarrying out the above mentioned functionality may be stored on theguidance application server. Communications circuitry may include acable modem, an integrated services digital network (ISDN) modem, adigital subscriber line (DSL) modem, a telephone modem, Ethernet card,or a wireless modem for communications with other equipment, or anyother suitable communications circuitry. Such communications may involvethe Internet or any other suitable communications networks or paths(which is described in more detail in connection with FIG. 7). Inaddition, communications circuitry may include circuitry that enablespeer-to-peer communication of user equipment devices, or communicationof user equipment devices in locations remote from each other (describedin more detail below).

Memory may be an electronic storage device provided as storage 608 thatis part of control circuitry 604. As referred to herein, the phrase“electronic storage device” or “storage device” should be understood tomean any device for storing electronic data, computer software, orfirmware, such as random-access memory, read-only memory, hard drives,optical drives, digital video disc (DVD) recorders, compact disc (CD)recorders, BLU-RAY disc (BD) recorders, BLU-RAY 3D disc recorders,digital video recorders (DVR, sometimes called a personal videorecorder, or PVR), solid state devices, quantum storage devices, gamingconsoles, gaming media, or any other suitable fixed or removable storagedevices, and/or any combination of the same. Storage 608 may be used tostore various types of content described herein as well as mediaguidance data described above. Nonvolatile memory may also be used(e.g., to launch a boot-up routine and other instructions). Cloud-basedstorage, described in relation to FIG. 7, may be used to supplementstorage 608 or instead of storage 608.

Control circuitry 604 may include video generating circuitry and tuningcircuitry, such as one or more analog tuners, one or more MPEG-2decoders or other digital decoding circuitry, high-definition tuners, orany other suitable tuning or video circuits or combinations of suchcircuits. Encoding circuitry (e.g., for converting over-the-air, analog,or digital signals to MPEG signals for storage) may also be provided.Control circuitry 604 may also include scaler circuitry for upconvertingand downconverting content into the preferred output format of the userequipment 600. Circuitry 604 may also include digital-to-analogconverter circuitry and analog-to-digital converter circuitry forconverting between digital and analog signals. The tuning and encodingcircuitry may be used by the user equipment device to receive and todisplay, to play, or to record content. The tuning and encodingcircuitry may also be used to receive guidance data. The circuitrydescribed herein, including for example, the tuning, video generating,encoding, decoding, encrypting, decrypting, scaler, and analog/digitalcircuitry, may be implemented using software running on one or moregeneral purpose or specialized processors. Multiple tuners may beprovided to handle simultaneous tuning functions (e.g., watch and recordfunctions, picture-in-picture (PIP) functions, multiple-tuner recording,etc.). If storage 608 is provided as a separate device from userequipment 600, the tuning and encoding circuitry (including multipletuners) may be associated with storage 608.

A user may send instructions to control circuitry 604 using user inputinterface 610. User input interface 610 may be any suitable userinterface, such as a remote control, mouse, trackball, keypad, keyboard,touch screen, touchpad, stylus input, joystick, voice recognitioninterface, or other user input interfaces. Display 612 may be providedas a stand-alone device or integrated with other elements of userequipment device 600. For example, display 612 may be a touchscreen ortouch-sensitive display. In such circumstances, user input interface 610may be integrated with or combined with display 612. Display 612 may beone or more of a monitor, a television, a liquid crystal display (LCD)for a mobile device, amorphous silicon display, low temperature polysilicon display, electronic ink display, electrophoretic display, activematrix display, electro-wetting display, electrofluidic display, cathoderay tube display, light-emitting diode display, electroluminescentdisplay, plasma display panel, high-performance addressing display,thin-film transistor display, organic light-emitting diode display,surface-conduction electron-emitter display (SED), laser television,carbon nanotubes, quantum dot display, interferometric modulatordisplay, or any other suitable equipment for displaying visual images.In some embodiments, display 612 may be HDTV-capable. In someembodiments, display 612 may be a 3D display, and the interactive mediaguidance application and any suitable content may be displayed in 3D. Avideo card or graphics card may generate the output to the display 612.The video card may offer various functions such as accelerated renderingof 3D scenes and 2D graphics, MPEG-2/MPEG-4 decoding, TV output, or theability to connect multiple monitors. The video card may be anyprocessing circuitry described above in relation to control circuitry604. The video card may be integrated with the control circuitry 604.Speakers 614 may be provided as integrated with other elements of userequipment device 600 or may be stand-alone units. The audio component ofvideos and other content displayed on display 612 may be played throughspeakers 614. In some embodiments, the audio may be distributed to areceiver (not shown), which processes and outputs the audio via speakers614.

The guidance application may be implemented using any suitablearchitecture. For example, it may be a stand-alone applicationwholly-implemented on user equipment device 600. In such an approach,instructions of the application are stored locally (e.g., in storage608), and data for use by the application is downloaded on a periodicbasis (e.g., from an out-of-band feed, from an Internet resource, orusing another suitable approach). Control circuitry 604 may retrieveinstructions of the application from storage 608 and process theinstructions to generate any of the displays discussed herein. Based onthe processed instructions, control circuitry 604 may determine whataction to perform when input is received from input interface 610. Forexample, movement of a cursor on a display up/down may be indicated bythe processed instructions when input interface 610 indicates that anup/down button was selected.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application is a client-serverbased application. Data for use by a thick or thin client implemented onuser equipment device 600 is retrieved on-demand by issuing requests toa server remote to the user equipment device 600. In one example of aclient-server based guidance application, control circuitry 604 runs aweb browser that interprets web pages provided by a remote server. Forexample, the remote server may store the instructions for theapplication in a storage device. The remote server may process thestored instructions using circuitry (e.g., control circuitry 604) andgenerate the displays discussed above and below. The client device mayreceive the displays generated by the remote server and may display thecontent of the displays locally on equipment device 600. This way, theprocessing of the instructions is performed remotely by the server whilethe resulting displays are provided locally on equipment device 600.Equipment device 600 may receive inputs from the user via inputinterface 610 and transmit those inputs to the remote server forprocessing and generating the corresponding displays. For example,equipment device 600 may transmit a communication to the remote serverindicating that an up/down button was selected via input interface 610.The remote server may process instructions in accordance with that inputand generate a display of the application corresponding to the input(e.g., a display that moves a cursor up/down). The generated display isthen transmitted to equipment device 600 for presentation to the user.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application is downloaded andinterpreted or otherwise run by an interpreter or virtual machine (runby control circuitry 604). In some embodiments, the guidance applicationmay be encoded in the ETV Binary Interchange Format (EBIF), received bycontrol circuitry 604 as part of a suitable feed, and interpreted by auser agent running on control circuitry 604. For example, the guidanceapplication may be an EBIF application. In some embodiments, theguidance application may be defined by a series of JAVA-based files thatare received and run by a local virtual machine or other suitablemiddleware executed by control circuitry 604. In some of suchembodiments (e.g., those employing MPEG-2 or other digital mediaencoding schemes), the guidance application may be, for example, encodedand transmitted in an MPEG-2 object carousel with the MPEG audio andvideo packets of a program.

User equipment device 600 of FIG. 6 can be implemented in system 700 ofFIG. 7 as user television equipment 702, user computer equipment 704,wireless user communications device 706, or any other type of userequipment suitable for accessing content, such as a non-portable gamingmachine. For simplicity, these devices may be referred to hereincollectively as user equipment or user equipment devices, and may besubstantially similar to user equipment devices described above. Userequipment devices, on which a media guidance application may beimplemented, may function as a standalone device or may be part of anetwork of devices. Various network configurations of devices may beimplemented and are discussed in more detail below.

A user equipment device utilizing at least some of the system featuresdescribed above in connection with FIG. 6 may not be classified solelyas user television equipment 702, user computer equipment 704, or awireless user communications device 706. For example, user televisionequipment 702 may, like some user computer equipment 704, beInternet-enabled allowing for access to Internet content, while usercomputer equipment 704 may, like some user television equipment 702,include a tuner allowing for access to television programming. The mediaguidance application may have the same layout on various different typesof user equipment or may be tailored to the display capabilities of theuser equipment. For example, on user computer equipment 704, theguidance application may be provided as a web site accessed by a webbrowser. In another example, the guidance application may be scaled downfor wireless user communications devices 706.

In system 700, there is typically more than one of each type f userequipment device but only one of each is shown in FIG. 7 to avoidovercomplicating the drawing. In addition, each user may utilize morethan one type of user equipment device and also more than one of eachtype of user equipment device.

In some embodiments, a user equipment device e.g., user televisionequipment 702, user computer equipment 704, wireless user communicationsdevice 706) may be referred to as a “second screen device.” For example,a second screen device may supplement content presented on a first userequipment device. The content presented on the second screen device maybe any suitable content that supplements the content presented on thefirst device. In some embodiments, the second screen device provides aninterface for adjusting settings and display preferences of the firstdevice. In some embodiments, the second screen device is configured forinteracting with other second screen devices or for interacting with asocial network. The second screen device can be located in the same roomas the first device, a different room from the first device but in thesame house or building, or in a different building from the firstdevice.

The user may also set various settings to maintain consistent mediaguidance application settings across in-home devices and remote devices.Settings include those described herein, as well as channel and programfavorites, programming preferences that the guidance applicationutilizes to make programming recommendations, display preferences, andother desirable guidance settings. For example, if a user sets a channelas a favorite on, for example, the web site www.allrovi.com on theirpersonal computer at their office, the same channel would appear as afavorite on the user's in-home devices (e.g., user television equipmentand user computer equipment) as well as the user's mobile devices, ifdesired. Therefore, changes made on one user equipment device can changethe guidance experience on another user equipment device, regardless ofwhether they are the same or a different type of user equipment device.In addition, the changes made may be based on settings input by a user,as well as user activity monitored by the guidance application.

The user equipment devices may be coupled to communications network 714.Namely, user television equipment 702, user computer equipment 704, andwireless user communications device 706 are coupled to communicationsnetwork 714 via communications paths 708, 710, and 712, respectively.Communications network 714 may be one or more networks including theinternet, a mobile phone network, mobile voice or data network (e.g., a4G or LTE network), cable network, public switched telephone network, orother types of communications network or combinations of communicationsnetworks. Paths 708, 710, and 712 may separately or together include oneor more communications paths, such as, a satellite path, a fiber-opticpath, a cable path, a path that supports Internet communications (e.g.,IPTV), free-space connections (e.g., for broadcast or other wirelesssignals), or any other suitable wired or wireless communications path orcombination of such paths. Path 712 is drawn with dotted lines toindicate that in the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 7 it is awireless path and paths 708 and 710 are drawn as solid lines to indicatethey are wired paths (although these paths may be wireless paths, ifdesired). Communications with the user equipment devices may be providedby one or more of these communications paths, but are shown as a singlepath in FIG. 7 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing.

Although communications paths are not drawn between user equipmentdevices, these devices may communicate directly with each other viacommunication paths, such as those described above in connection withpaths 708, 710, and 712, as well as other short-range point-to-pointcommunication paths, such as USB cables, IEEE 1394 cables, wirelesspaths (e.g., Bluetooth, infrared, IEEE 802-11.x, etc.), or othershort-range communication via wired or wireless paths. BLUETOOTH is acertification mark owned by Bluetooth SIG, INC. The user equipmentdevices may also communicate with each other directly through anindirect path via communications network 714.

System 700 includes content source 716 and media guidance data source718 coupled to communications network 714 via communication paths 720and 722, respectively. Paths 720 and 722 may include any of thecommunication paths described above in connection with paths 708, 710,and 712. Communications with the content source 716 and media guidancedata source 718 may be exchanged over one or more communications paths,but are shown as a single path in FIG. 7 to avoid overcomplicating thedrawing. In addition, there may be more than one of each of contentsource 716 and media guidance data source 718, but only one of each isshown in FIG. 7 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing. (The differenttypes of each of these sources are discussed below.) If desired, contentsource 716 and media guidance data source 718 may be integrated as onesource device. Although communications between sources 716 and 718 withuser equipment devices 702, 704, and 706 are shown as throughcommunications network 714, in some embodiments, sources 716 and 718 maycommunicate directly with user equipment devices 702, 704, and 706 viacommunication paths (not shown) such as those described above inconnection with paths 708, 710, and 712.

Content source 716 may include one or more types of content distributionequipment including a television distribution facility, cable systemheadend, satellite distribution facility, programming sources (e.g.,television broadcasters, such as NBC, ABC, HBO, etc.), intermediatedistribution facilities and/or servers, Internet providers, on-demandmedia servers, and other content providers. NBC is a trademark owned bythe National Broadcasting Company, Inc., ABC is a trademark owned by theAmerican Broadcasting Company, Inc., and HBO is a trademark owned by theHome Box Office, Inc. Content source 716 may be the originator ofcontent (e.g., a television broadcaster, a Webcast provider, etc.) ormay not be the originator of content (e.g., an on-demand contentprovider, an Internet provider of content of broadcast programs fordownloading, etc.). Content source 716 may include cable sources,satellite providers, on-demand providers, Internet providers,over-the-top content providers, or other providers of content. Contentsource 716 may also include a remote media server used to storedifferent types of content (including video content selected by a user),in a location remote from any of the user equipment devices. Systems andmethods for remote storage of content, and providing remotely storedcontent to user equipment are discussed in greater detail in connectionwith Ellis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,761,892, issued Jul. 20, 2010, whichis hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Media guidance data source 718 may provide media guidance data, such asthe media guidance data described above. Media guidance data may beprovided to the user equipment devices using any suitable approach. Insome embodiments, the guidance application may be a stand-aloneinteractive television program guide that receives program guide datavia a data feed (e.g., a continuous feed or trickle feed). Programschedule data and other guidance data may be provided to the userequipment on a television channel sideband, using an in-band digitalsignal, using an out-of-band digital signal, or by any other suitabledata transmission technique. Program schedule data and other mediaguidance data may be provided to user equipment on multiple analog ordigital television channels.

In some embodiments, guidance data from media guidance data source 718may be provided to users' equipment using a client-server approach. Forexample, a user equipment device may pull media guidance data from aserver, or a server may push media guidance data to a user equipmentdevice. In some embodiments, a guidance application client residing onthe user's equipment may initiate sessions with source 718 to obtainguidance data when needed, e.g., when the guidance data is out of dateor when the user equipment device receives a request from the user toreceive data. Media guidance may be provided to the user equipment withany suitable frequency (e.g., continuously, daily, a user-specifiedperiod of time, a system-specified period of time, in response to arequest from user equipment, etc.). Media guidance data source 718 mayprovide user equipment devices 702, 704, and 706 the media guidanceapplication itself or software updates for the media guidanceapplication.

In some embodiments, the media guidance data may include viewer data.For example, the viewer data may include current and/or historical useractivity information (e.g., what content the user typically watches,what times of day the user watches content, whether the user interactswith a social network, at what times the user interacts with a socialnetwork to post information, what types of content the user typicallywatches (e.g., pay TV or free TV), mood, brain activity information,etc.). The media guidance data may also include subscription data. Forexample, the subscription data may identify to which sources or servicesa given user subscribes and/or to which sources or services the givenuser has previously subscribed but later terminated access (e.g.,whether the user subscribes to premium channels, whether the user hasadded a premium level of services, whether the user has increasedInternet speed). In some embodiments, the viewer data and/or thesubscription data may identify patterns of a given user for a period ofmore than one year. The media guidance data may include a model (e.g., asurvivor model) used for generating a score that indicates a likelihooda given user will terminate access to a service/source. For example, themedia guidance application may process the viewer data with thesubscription data using the model to generate a value or score thatindicates a likelihood of whether the given user will terminate accessto a particular service or source. In particular, a higher score mayindicate a higher level of confidence that the user will terminateaccess to a particular service or source. Based on the score, the mediaguidance application may generate promotions and advertisements thatentice the user to keep the particular service or source indicated bythe score as one to which the user will likely terminate access.

Media guidance applications may be, for example, stand-aloneapplications implemented on user equipment devices. For example, themedia guidance application may be implemented as software or a set ofexecutable instructions which may be stored in storage 608, and executedby control circuitry 604 of a user equipment device 600. In someembodiments, media guidance applications may be client-serverapplications where only a client application resides on the userequipment device, and server application resides on a remote server. Forexample, media guidance applications may be implemented partially as aclient application on control circuitry 604 of user equipment device 600and partially on a remote server as a server application (e.g., mediaguidance data source 718) running on control circuitry of the remoteserver. When executed by control circuitry of the remote server (such asmedia guidance data source 718), the media guidance application mayinstruct the control circuitry to generate the guidance applicationdisplays and transmit the generated displays to the user equipmentdevices. The server application may instruct the control circuitry ofthe media guidance data source 718 to transmit data for storage on theuser equipment. The client application may instruct control circuitry ofthe receiving user equipment to generate the guidance applicationdisplays.

Content and/or media guidance data delivered to user equipment devices702, 704, and 706 may be over-the-top (OTT) content. OTT contentdelivery allows Internet-enabled user devices, including any userequipment device described above, to receive content that is transferredover the Internet, including any content described above, in addition tocontent received over cable or satellite connections. OTT content isdelivered via an Internet connection provided by an Internet serviceprovider (ISP), but a third party distributes the content. The ISP maynot be responsible for the viewing abilities, copyrights, orredistribution of the content, and may only transfer IP packets providedby the OTT content provider. Examples of OTT content providers includeYOUTUBE, NETFLIX, and HULU, which provide audio and video via IPpackets. Youtube is a trademark owned by Google Inc., Netflix is atrademark owned by Netflix Inc., and Hulu is a trademark owned by Hulu,LLC. OTT content providers may additionally or alternatively providemedia guidance data described above. In addition to content and/or mediaguidance data, providers of OTT content can distribute media guidanceapplications (e.g., web-based applications or cloud-based applications),or the content can be displayed by media guidance applications stored onthe user equipment device.

Media guidance system 700 is intended to illustrate a number ofapproaches, or network configurations, by which user equipment devicesand sources of content and guidance data may communicate with each otherfor the purpose of accessing content and providing media guidance. Theembodiments described herein may be applied in any one or a subset ofthese approaches, or in a system employing other approaches fordelivering content and providing media guidance. The following fourapproaches provide specific illustrations of the generalized example ofFIG. 7.

In one approach, user equipment devices may communicate with each otherwithin a home network. User equipment devices can communicate with eachother directly via short-range point-to-point communication schemesdescribed above, via indirect paths through a hub or other similardevice provided on a home network, or via communications network 714.Each of the multiple individuals in a single home may operate differentuser equipment devices on the home network. As a result, it may bedesirable for various media guidance information or settings to becommunicated between the different user equipment devices. For example,it may be desirable for users to maintain consistent media guidanceapplication settings on different user equipment devices within a homenetwork, as described in greater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. PatentPublication No. 2005/0251827, filed Jul. 11, 2005. Different types ofuser equipment devices in a home network may also communicate with eachother to transmit content. For example, a user may transmit content fromuser computer equipment to a portable video player or portable musicplayer.

In a second approach, users may have multiple types of user equipment bywhich they access content and obtain media guidance. For example, someusers may have home networks that are accessed by in-home and mobiledevices. Users may control in-home devices via a media guidanceapplication implemented on a remote device. For example, users mayaccess an online media guidance application on a website via a personalcomputer at their office, or a mobile device such as a PDA orweb-enabled mobile telephone. The user may set various settings (e.g.,recordings, reminders, or other settings) on the online guidanceapplication to control the user's in-home equipment. The online guidemay control the user's equipment directly, or by communicating with amedia guidance application on the user's in-home equipment. Varioussystems and methods for user equipment devices communicating, where theuser equipment devices are in locations remote from each other, isdiscussed in, for example, Ellis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 8,046,801, issuedOct. 25, 2011, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety.

In a third approach, users of user equipment devices inside and outsidea home can use their media guidance application to communicate directlywith content source 716 to access content. Specifically, within a home,users of user television equipment 702 and user computer equipment 704may access the media guidance application to navigate among and locatedesirable content. Users may also access the media guidance applicationoutside of the home using wireless user communications devices 706 tonavigate among and locate desirable content.

In a fourth approach, user equipment devices may operate in a cloudcomputing environment to access cloud services. In a cloud computingenvironment, various types of computing services for content sharing,storage or distribution (e.g., video sharing sites or social networkingsites) are provided by a collection of network-accessible computing andstorage resources, referred to as “the cloud.” For example, the cloudcan include a collection of server computing devices, which may belocated centrally or at distributed locations, that provide cloud-basedservices to various types of users and devices connected via a networksuch as the Internet via communications network 714. These cloudresources may include one or more content sources 716 and one or moremedia guidance data sources 718. In addition or in the alternative, theremote computing sites may include other user equipment devices, such asuser television equipment 702, user computer equipment 704, and wirelessuser communications device 706. For example, the other user equipmentdevices may provide access to a stored copy of a video or a streamedvideo. In such embodiments, user equipment devices may operate in apeer-to-peer manner without communicating with a central server.

The cloud provides access to services, such as content storage, contentsharing, or social networking services, among other examples, as well asaccess to any content described above, for user equipment devices.Services can be provided in the cloud through cloud computing serviceproviders, or through other providers of online services. For example,the cloud-based services can include a content storage service, acontent sharing site, a social networking site, or other services viawhich user-sourced content is distributed for viewing by others onconnected devices. These cloud-based services may allow a user equipmentdevice to store content to the cloud and to receive content from thecloud rather than storing content locally and accessing locally-storedcontent.

A user may use various content capture devices, such as camcorders,digital cameras with video mode, audio recorders, mobile phones, andhandheld computing devices, to record content. The user can uploadcontent to a content storage service on the cloud either directly, forexample, from user computer equipment 704 or wireless usercommunications device 706 having content capture feature. Alternatively,the user can first transfer the content to a user equipment device, suchas user computer equipment 704. The user equipment device storing thecontent uploads the content to the cloud using a data transmissionservice on communications network 714. In some embodiments, the userequipment device itself is a cloud resource, and other user equipmentdevices can access the content directly from the user equipment deviceon which the user stored the content.

Cloud resources may be accessed by a user equipment device using, forexample, a web browser, a media guidance application, a desktopapplication, a mobile application, and/or any combination of accessapplications of the same. The user equipment device may be a cloudclient that relies on cloud computing for application delivery, or theuser equipment device may have some functionality without access tocloud resources. For example, some applications running on the userequipment device may be cloud applications, i.e., applications deliveredas a service over the Internet, while other applications may be storedand run on the user equipment device. In some embodiments, a user devicemay receive content from multiple cloud resources simultaneously. Forexample, a user device can stream audio from one cloud resource whiledownloading content from a second cloud resource. Or a user device candownload content from multiple cloud resources for more efficientdownloading. In some embodiments, user equipment devices can use cloudresources for processing operations such as the processing operationsperformed by processing circuitry described in relation to FIG. 6.

As referred herein, the term “in response to” refers to initiated as aresult of. For example, a first action being performed in response to asecond action may include interstitial steps between the first actionand the second action. As referred herein, the term “directly inresponse to” refers to caused by. For example, a first action beingperformed directly in response to a second action may not includeinterstitial steps between the first action and the second action.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of illustrative steps involved in classifying arecorded content for deletion, in accordance with some embodiments ofthe disclosure. Process 800 may be executed by control circuitry 604(FIG. 6) as instructed by the media guidance application. Controlcircuitry 604 may be implemented on user equipment 702, 704, and/or 706(FIG. 7). In addition, one or more steps of process 800 may beincorporated into or combined with one or more steps of any otherprocess or embodiment.

Process 800 begins at 802 where control circuitry 604 receives a firstdata packet containing information about a first event corresponding toa recorded media asset. For example, control circuitry 604 may receive adata packet containing information that a user has watched a portion butnot an entirety of “Finding Nemo” (e.g., ten minutes of playback time).Process 800 continues to 804 where control circuitry 604 accesses arecorded media asset properties data structure to retrieve a firstdeletion classifier associated with the recorded media asset. Forexample, media guidance application may access, in data structure 100entry 110 that is associated with recorded media asset “Finding Nemo,”and retrieve value corresponding to deletion classifier 108 (e.g., “O.K.to Delete”).

Process 800 continues to 806 where control circuitry 604 stores, in adeletion classification database, a plurality of rule entries forclassifying recorded media assets into a plurality of deletionclassifiers, where each rule entry of the plurality of rule entriescomprises a trigger event field, an initial deletion classifier fieldand a final deletion classifier field, and each rule entry comprises aninstruction, for a given recorded media asset associated with a valuecorresponding to the initial deletion classifier field for updating adeletion classifier associated with the given recorded media asset fromthe value corresponding to the initial deletion classifier field to avalue corresponding to the final deletion classifier field in responseto detecting an event corresponding to a value of the trigger eventfield. For example, control circuitry 604 may store rule entries 164,166, 168 and 170 in database 150. Rule entries 164, 166, 168 and 170 mayinclude values corresponding to fields trigger event 152, initialdeletion classifier 156, final deletion classifier 158 and instruction160.

Process 800 continues to 808 where control circuitry 604 queries thedeletion classification database for a first rule entry, where a valuecorresponding to a trigger event field associated with the first ruleentry matches the first event and a value corresponding to an initialdeletion classifier field associated with the first rule entry matchesthe first deletion classifier. As an illustrative example, controlcircuitry 604 may query, by performing actions described previously withrespect to FIGS. 1A-1C, database 150 for a rule entry that has a valuecorresponding to trigger event 152 of “a user has consumed a portion ofrecorded media asset that is not an entirety of the recorded mediaasset” and a value corresponding to initial deletion classifier 156 of“O.K. to Delete.” Process 800 continues to 810 where control circuitry604 retrieves, based on the querying, the first rule entry that isassociated with both the first event and the first deletion classifier.For example, control circuitry 604 may retrieve rule entry 164 that isassociated with both trigger event field value of “a user has consumed aportion of recorded media asset that is not an entirety of the recordedmedia asset” and initial deletion classifier field value of “O.K. toDelete.”

Process 800 continues to 812 where control circuitry 604 retrieves avalue corresponding to a final deletion classifier field associated withthe first rule entry, where the value corresponding to the finaldeletion classifier field associated with the first rule entry is asecond deletion classifier. For example, control circuitry 604 mayretrieve “Do Not Delete” corresponding to final deletion classifier 158associated with rule entry 164. Process 800 continues to 814 wherecontrol circuitry 604 updates the recorded media asset properties datastructure by substituting the first deletion classifier associated withthe recorded media asset with the second deletion classifier. Forexample, control circuitry 604 may update entry 110 associated with“Finding Nemo” by substituting “O.K. to Delete” deletion classifier with“Do Not Delete.”

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of illustrative steps involved in retrieving afirst rule entry, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure.Process 900 may be executed by control circuitry 604 (FIG. 6) asinstructed by the media guidance application. Control circuitry 604 maybe implemented on user equipment 702, 704, and/or 706 (FIG. 7). Inaddition, one or more steps of process 900 may be incorporated into orcombined with one or more steps of any other process or embodiment.

Process 900 begins at 902 where control circuitry 604 begins process forquerying the deletion classification database for a first rule entry.Process 900 continues to 904 where control circuitry 604 sets first ruleentry to null. For example, control circuitry 604 may pertain aninitialization operation and set value of a first rule entry variable tonull. Process 900 continues to 906 where control circuitry 604 queriesthe deletion classification database for a first rule entry, where avalue corresponding to a trigger event field associated with the firstrule entry matches the first event and a value corresponding to aninitial deletion classifier field associated with the first rule entrymatches the first deletion classifier. As an illustrative example,control circuitry 604 may query, in manners described previously withrespect to FIGS. 1A-1C, database 150 for rule entries that areassociated with a value of “a user has consumed a portion of recordedmedia asset that is not an entirety of the recorded media asset”corresponding to trigger event 152 and value of “O.K. to Delete”corresponding to initial deletion classifier 156.

Process 900 continues to 908 where control circuitry 604 determineswhether the query returned a null result. For example, control circuitry604 may use a Boolean comparison function (e.g., If query result=“null,”null result=true) to determine whether the query returned a null result.If, at 908, control circuitry 604 determines that the query returned anull result, process 900 reverts to 904. If, at 908, control circuitry604 determines that the query did not return a null result, process 900continues to 910. At 910, control circuitry 604 determines whether thequery returned multiple rule entries. If, at 910, control circuitry 604determines that the query did not return multiple rule entries, process900 continues to 912. At 912, control circuitry 604 updates the firstrule entry with a pointer to rule entry. Process 900 continues to 928where control circuitry 604 retrieves rule entry corresponding to thefirst rule entry.

If, at 910, control circuitry 604 determines that the query returnedmultiple rule entries, process 900 continues to 914. For example,control circuitry 604 may determine that the query result includes ruleentries 164 and 170. At 914, control circuitry 604 sets maximum priorityvalue to null. Process 900 continues to 916 where control circuitry 604selects a rule entry of the multiple rule entries returned by the query.For example, control circuitry 604 may select rule entry 164. Process900 continues to 918 where control circuitry 604 retrieves a valuecorresponding to priority field associated with the selected rule entry.For example, control circuitry 604 may retrieve, for rule entry 164,value (e.g., five) corresponding to field priority 162. Process 900continues to 920 where control circuitry 604 determines whether thevalue corresponding to priority field associated with the selected ruleentry is greater than maximum priority value. If, at 920, controlcircuitry 604 determines that the value corresponding to priority fieldassociated with the selected rule entry is greater than maximum priorityvalue, process 900 continues to 922. As an illustrative example, maximumpriority value may be null and control circuitry 604 may determine thatpriority value (e.g., five) associated with rule 164 is greater than themaximum priority value. At 922, control circuitry 604 updates maximumpriority value to the value corresponding to priority field associatedwith the selected rule entry. Following from the example above, controlcircuitry 604 may update maximum priority value to priority valueassociated with rule 164 (i.e., five).

Process 900 continues to 924 where control circuitry 604 updates thefirst rule entry with a pointer to the selected rule entry. For example,control circuitry 604 may update first rule entry with pointer to ruleentry 164. Process 900 continues to 926 where control circuitry 604determines whether there is another rule entry included in the multiplerule entries. Process 900 also continues to 926 if, at 920, controlcircuitry 604 determines that the value corresponding to priority fieldassociated with the selected rule entry is not greater than maximumpriority value. If, at 926, control circuitry 604 determines that thereis another rule entry included in the multiple rule entries, process 900reverts to 916. For example, control circuitry 604 may determine thatrule 174 is also included in the multiple rule entries. If, at 926,control circuitry 604 determines that there is no other rule entryincluded in the multiple rule entries, process 900 continues to 928. At928, control circuitry 604 retrieves rule entry corresponding to thefirst rule entry.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of illustrative steps involved in classifying arecorded media asset into a deletion classifier, in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure. Process 1000 may be executed by controlcircuitry 604 (FIG. 6) as instructed by the media guidance application.Control circuitry 604 may be implemented on user equipment 702, 704,and/or 706 (FIG. 7). In addition, one or more steps of process 1000 maybe incorporated into or combined with one or more steps of any otherprocess or embodiment.

Process 1000 begins at 1002 where control circuitry 604 receivesinformation about a first event corresponding to a recorded media asset.For example, control circuitry 604 may receive a data packet containinginformation that a user has watched a portion but not an entirety of“Finding Nemo” (e.g., ten minutes of playback time). Process 1000continues to 1004 where control circuitry 604 determines a firstdeletion classifier associated with the recorded media asset. Forexample, media guidance application may access data structure 100 anddetermine “O.K. to Delete” deletion classifier is associated with“Finding Nemo.”

Process 1000 continues to 1006 where control circuitry 604 stores, in adeletion classification database, a plurality of rules for classifyingrecorded media assets into a plurality of deletion classifiers, whereeach rule comprises a trigger event, an initial deletion classifier anda final deletion classifier, and each rule comprises an instruction, fora given recorded media asset associated with the initial deletionclassifier, for updating a deletion classifier associated with the givenrecorded media asset from the initial deletion classifier to the finaldeletion classifier in response to detecting an event corresponding tothe trigger event. For example, control circuitry 604 may store ruleentries 164, 166, 168 and 170 in database 150. Rule entries 164, 166,168 and 170 may include values corresponding to fields trigger event152, initial deletion classifier 156, final deletion classifier 158 andinstruction 160.

Process 1000 continues to 1008 where control circuitry 604 determines arule from the deletion classification database that is associated withboth the first event and the first deletion classifier. As anillustrative example, control circuitry 604 may determine, in mannersdescribed previously with respect to FIGS. 1A-1C, rule entry 164 isassociated with both first event of “a user has consumed a portion ofrecorded media asset that is not an entirety of the recorded mediaasset” and first deletion classifier of “O.K. to Delete.” Process 1000continues to 1010 where control circuitry 604 substitutes the firstdeletion classifier associated with the recorded media asset with thefinal deletion classifier associated with the rule. For example, controlcircuitry 604 may determine, in manners described previously withrespect to FIGS. 1A-1C, that the final deletion classifier associatedwith rule entry 164 is “Do Not Delete.” Control circuitry 604 maysubstitute “O.K. to Delete” deletion classifier, associated with“Finding Nemo,” by substituting “O.K. to Delete” with “Do Not Delete.”

It should be noted that processes 800-1000 or any step thereof could beperformed on, or provided by, any of the devices shown in FIGS. 6-7. Forexample, any of processes 800-1000 may be executed by control circuitry604 (FIG. 6) as instructed by the media guidance application implementedon user equipment 702, 704, and/or 706 (FIG. 7). In addition, one ormore steps of process 800-10000 may be incorporated into or combinedwith one or more steps of any other process or embodiment.

It is contemplated that the steps or descriptions of FIGS. 8-10 may beused with any other embodiment of this disclosure. In addition, thesteps and descriptions described in relation to FIG. 8-10 may be done inalternative orders or in parallel to further the purposes of thisdisclosure. For example, each of these steps may be performed in anyorder or in parallel or substantially simultaneously to reduce lag orincrease the speed of the system or method.

The processes discussed above are intended to be illustrative and notlimiting. One skilled in the art would appreciate that the steps of theprocesses discussed herein may be omitted, modified, combined, and/orrearranged, and any additional steps may be performed without departingfrom the scope of the invention. More generally, the above disclosure ismeant to be exemplary and not limiting. Only the claims that follow aremeant to set bounds as to what the present invention includes.Furthermore, it should be noted that the features and limitationsdescribed in any one embodiment may be applied to any other embodimentherein, and flowcharts or examples relating to one embodiment may becombined with any other embodiment in a suitable manner, done indifferent orders, or done in parallel. In addition, the systems andmethods described herein may be performed in real time. It should alsobe noted that the systems and/or methods described above may be appliedto, or used in accordance with, other systems and/or methods.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for classifying recorded content fordeletion, the method comprising: receiving a first data packetcontaining information about a first event corresponding to a recordedmedia asset; accessing a recorded media asset properties data structureto retrieve a first deletion classifier associated with the recordedmedia asset; storing, in a deletion classification database, a pluralityof rule entries for classifying recorded media assets into a pluralityof deletion classifiers, wherein: each rule entry of the plurality ofrule entries comprises a trigger event field, an initial deletionclassifier field and a final deletion classifier field, and each ruleentry comprises an instruction, for a given recorded media assetassociated with a value corresponding to the initial deletion classifierfield, for updating a deletion classifier associated with the givenrecorded media asset from the value corresponding to the initialdeletion classifier field to a value corresponding to the final deletionclassifier field in response to detecting an event corresponding to avalue of the trigger event field; querying the deletion classificationdatabase for a first rule entry, wherein a value corresponding to atrigger event field associated with the first rule entry matches thefirst event and a value corresponding to a initial deletion classifierfield associated with the first rule entry matches the first deletionclassifier; retrieving, based on the querying, the first rule entry thatis associated with both the first event and the first deletionclassifier; retrieving a value corresponding to a final deletionclassifier field associated with the first rule entry, wherein the valuecorresponding to the final deletion classifier field associated with thefirst rule entry is a second deletion classifier; and updating therecorded media asset properties data structure by substituting the firstdeletion classifier associated with the recorded media asset with thesecond deletion classifier.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein a ruleentry of the plurality of rule entries further comprises an additionalinformation field, and wherein an instruction, corresponding to the ruleentry, for updating the deletion classifier associated with the givenrecorded media asset comprises an instruction for updating the deletionclassifier associated with the given recorded media asset in response todetecting both an event corresponding to a value of trigger event fieldassociated with the rule entry and determining that a criterion definedby a value of the additional information field is fulfilled.
 3. Themethod of claim 2, wherein at least one of a value of the trigger eventfield and a value of the additional information field is at least oneof: a version of the given recorded media asset becoming available forfree through a media consumption platform; a version of the givenrecorded media asset being scheduled for broadcast within somepre-defined time period; a user consuming a portion of the givenrecorded media asset; the user consuming a portion of a version of thegiven recorded media asset that is available from a different source;media asset associated with the given recorded media asset beingscheduled to be available within some pre-defined time period; availablememory of a storage device that the given recorded media asset is storedon falling below a pre-defined threshold available memory value;duration of time for which the given recorded media asset was stored onthe storage device exceeding a pre-defined threshold storage timeduration value; a level of interest of the user in the given recordedmedia asset; a number of users who have consumed the given recordedmedia asset; and an identity of the user who has consumed the givenrecorded media asset.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprisinggenerating for simultaneous display an identifier corresponding to therecorded media asset, deletion classifier associated with the recordedmedia asset and a reason for classifying the recorded media asset intothe deletion classifier associated with the recorded media asset.
 5. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: generating for display aplurality of selectable deletion classifier options corresponding to therecorded media asset, wherein each selectable deletion classifier optionof the plurality of selectable deletion classifier options correspondsto a deletion classifier of the plurality of deletion classifiers;receiving a user selection of a selectable deletion classifier option ofthe plurality of selectable deletion classifier options; accessing adata structure that contains information about mapping between theplurality of selectable deletion classifier options and the plurality ofdeletion classifiers to determine a deletion classifier corresponding tothe selected selectable deletion classifier option; retrieving thedeletion classifier corresponding to the selected selectable deletionclassifier option; and updating the recorded media asset properties datastructure by substituting the second deletion classifier associated withthe deletion classifier corresponding to the selected selectabledeletion classifier option.
 6. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: receiving a second data packet containing information abouta second event corresponding to the recorded media asset; accessing therecorded media asset properties data structure to retrieve the seconddeletion classifier associated with the recorded media asset;retrieving, from the deletion classification database, a second ruleentry that is associated with both the second event and the seconddeletion classifier; and updating the recorded media asset propertiesdata structure by substituting the second deletion classifier associatedwith the recorded media asset with a value corresponding to a finaldeletion classifier field associated with the second rule entry, whereinthe value corresponding to the final deletion classifier fieldassociated with the second rule entry is the first deletion classifier.7. The method of claim 1, further comprising: selecting recorded mediaassets associated with a third deletion classifier of the plurality ofdeletion classifiers for automatic deletion after a pre-defined periodof time has elapsed; generating for display a recommendation to consumethe recorded media assets associated with the third deletion classifierbefore the pre-defined period of time has elapsed; receiving a datapacket containing information that the pre-defined period of time haselapsed; and in response to receiving the data packet containinginformation that the pre-defined period of time has elapsed,automatically deleting the recorded media assets associated with thethird deletion classifier.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein each ruleentry of the plurality of rule entries further comprises a priorityfield, and wherein a value corresponding to a priority field associatedwith a given rule entry defines a priority level associated with thegiven rule entry.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein querying thedeletion classification database for the first rule entry returnsmultiple rule entries and wherein determining the first rule entryfurther comprises: determining, based on comparing values correspondingto priority field associated with each rule entry of the multiple ruleentries, a rule entry of the multiple rule entries that is associatedwith the highest priority level; and selecting the rule entry of themultiple rule entries that is associated with the highest priority levelas the first rule entry.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the ruleentry of the multiple rule entries that is associated with the highestpriority level further comprises an additional information field,further comprising: retrieving a value associated with the additionalinformation field; determining, based on the value associated with theadditional information field, relevant information required fordetermining whether a criterion defined by the value of the additionalinformation field is fulfilled; accessing a data structure containingthe relevant information to retrieve the relevant information; comparingthe value associated with the additional information field with therelevant information to determine whether the criterion defined by thevalue of the additional information field is fulfilled; and in responseto determining that the criterion defined by the value of the additionalinformation field is not fulfilled, selecting rule entry of the multiplerule entries that is associated with next highest priority level as thefirst rule entry instead.
 11. A system for classifying recorded contentfor deletion, the system comprising: control circuitry configured to:receive a first data packet containing information about a first eventcorresponding to a recorded media asset; access a recorded media assetproperties data structure to retrieve a first deletion classifierassociated with the recorded media asset; store, in a deletionclassification database, a plurality of rule entries for classifyingrecorded media assets into a plurality of deletion classifiers, wherein:each rule entry of the plurality of rule entries comprises a triggerevent field, an initial deletion classifier field and a final deletionclassifier field, and each rule entry comprises an instruction, for agiven recorded media asset associated with a value corresponding to theinitial deletion classifier field, for updating a deletion classifierassociated with the given recorded media asset from the valuecorresponding to the initial deletion classifier field to a valuecorresponding to the final deletion classifier field in response todetecting an event corresponding to a value of the trigger event field;query the deletion classification database for a first rule entry,wherein a value corresponding to a trigger event field associated withthe first rule entry matches the first event and a value correspondingto a initial deletion classifier field associated with the first ruleentry matches the first deletion classifier; retrieve, based on thequerying, the first rule entry that is associated with both the firstevent and the first deletion classifier; retrieve a value correspondingto a final deletion classifier field associated with the first ruleentry, wherein the value corresponding to the final deletion classifierfield associated with the first rule entry is a second deletionclassifier; and update the recorded media asset properties datastructure by substituting the first deletion classifier associated withthe recorded media asset with the second deletion classifier.
 12. Thesystem of claim 11, wherein a rule entry of the plurality of ruleentries further comprises an additional information field, and whereinan instruction, corresponding to the rule entry, for updating thedeletion classifier associated with the given recorded media assetcomprises an instruction for updating the deletion classifier associatedwith the given recorded media asset in response to detecting both anevent corresponding to a value of trigger event field associated withthe rule entry and determining that a criterion defined by a value ofthe additional information field is fulfilled.
 13. The system of claim12, wherein at least one of a value of the trigger event field and avalue of the additional information field is at least one of: a versionof the given recorded media asset becoming available for free through amedia consumption platform; a version of the given recorded media assetbeing scheduled for broadcast within some pre-defined time period; auser consuming a portion of the given recorded media asset; the userconsuming a portion of a version of the given recorded media asset thatis available from a different source; media asset associated with thegiven recorded media asset being scheduled to be available within somepre-defined time period; available memory of a storage device that thegiven recorded media asset is stored on falling below a pre-definedthreshold available memory value; duration of time for which the givenrecorded media asset was stored on the storage device exceeding apre-defined threshold storage time duration value; a level of interestof the user in the given recorded media asset; a number of users whohave consumed the given recorded media asset; and an identity of theuser who has consumed the given recorded media asset.
 14. The system ofclaim 11, wherein the control circuitry is further configured togenerate for simultaneous display an identifier corresponding to therecorded media asset, deletion classifier associated with the recordedmedia asset and a reason for classifying the recorded media asset intothe deletion classifier associated with the recorded media asset. 15.The system of claim 11, wherein the control circuitry is furtherconfigured to: generate for display a plurality of selectable deletionclassifier options corresponding to the recorded media asset, whereineach selectable deletion classifier option of the plurality ofselectable deletion classifier options corresponds to a deletionclassifier of the plurality of deletion classifiers; receive a userselection of a selectable deletion classifier option of the plurality ofselectable deletion classifier options; access a data structure thatcontains information about mapping between the plurality of selectabledeletion classifier options and the plurality of deletion classifiers todetermine a deletion classifier corresponding to the selected selectabledeletion classifier option; retrieve the deletion classifiercorresponding to the selected selectable deletion classifier option; andupdate the recorded media asset properties data structure bysubstituting the second deletion classifier associated with the deletionclassifier corresponding to the selected selectable deletion classifieroption.
 16. The system of claim 11, wherein the control circuitry isfurther configured to: receive a second data packet containinginformation about a second event corresponding to the recorded mediaasset; access the recorded media asset properties data structure toretrieve the second deletion classifier associated with the recordedmedia asset; retrieve, from the deletion classification database, asecond rule entry that is associated with both the second event and thesecond deletion classifier; and update the recorded media assetproperties data structure by substituting the second deletion classifierassociated with the recorded media asset with a value corresponding to afinal deletion classifier field associated with the second rule entry,wherein the value corresponding to the final deletion classifier fieldassociated with the second rule entry is the first deletion classifier.17. The system of claim 11, wherein the control circuitry is furtherconfigured to: select recorded media assets associated with a thirddeletion classifier of the plurality of deletion classifiers forautomatic deletion after a pre-defined period of time has elapsed;generate for display a recommendation to consume the recorded mediaassets associated with the third deletion classifier before thepre-defined period of time has elapsed; receive a data packet containinginformation that the pre-defined period of time has elapsed; and inresponse to receiving the data packet containing information that thepre-defined period of time has elapsed, automatically delete therecorded media assets associated with the third deletion classifier. 18.The system of claim 11, wherein each rule entry of the plurality of ruleentries further comprises a priority field, and wherein a valuecorresponding to a priority field associated with a given rule entrydefines a priority level associated with the given rule entry.
 19. Thesystem of claim 18, wherein querying the deletion classificationdatabase for the first rule entry returns multiple rule entries andwherein the control circuitry is configured, when determining the firstrule entry, to: determine, based on comparing values corresponding topriority field associated with each rule entry of the multiple ruleentries, a rule entry of the multiple rule entries that is associatedwith the highest priority level; and select the rule entry of themultiple rule entries that is associated with the highest priority levelas the first rule entry.
 20. The system of claim 19, wherein the ruleentry of the multiple rule entries that is associated with the highestpriority level further comprises an additional information field, andwherein the control circuitry is configured to: retrieve a valueassociated with the additional information field; determine, based onthe value associated with the additional information field, relevantinformation required for determining whether a criterion defined by thevalue of the additional information field is fulfilled; access a datastructure containing the relevant information to retrieve the relevantinformation; compare the value associated with the additionalinformation field with the relevant information to determine whether thecriterion defined by the value of the additional information field isfulfilled; and in response to determining that the criterion defined bythe value of the additional information field is not fulfilled, selectrule entry of the multiple rule entries that is associated with nexthighest priority level as the first rule entry instead.